Maryland basketball suffered an 85-69 defeat in its final regular season game at the hands of Penn State on Sunday night, dropping the Terps to 12th place in the conference and to 15-16 overall.
Maryland was without its second-leading scorer Julian Reese on Sunday, who reportedly rolled his ankle before the game. Without Reese, Penn State dominated the glass (47-26), including 14 offensive rebounds, and added 16 second-chance points in the process.
Former Terps big man Qudus Wahab led the scoring for the Nittany Lions with a 19-point, 15-rebound double-double. Ace Baldwin Jr. added a double-double of his own with 17 points and 11 assists as five players finished in double figures for Penn State.
“It’s unfortunate. I think the frustration level has hit these guys,” Maryland head coach Kevin Willard said. “We missed a couple easy shots early in the game… which has kind of been our M.O. all year, but I’m really pleased with the young guys who were out there playing.”
Jahmir Young scored 16 points and grabbed seven rebounds for Maryland, but received little help outside of nice performances from freshmen Jamie Kaiser Jr. (13 points) and DeShawn Harris-Smith (nine points).
“I thought DeShawn played terrific, I thought Jamie played terrific,” Willard said. “I thought Jamie was aggressive, which is great, and I thought DeShawn was the best player on the court tonight.”
With the win, Penn State has secured the 11 seed in the upcoming Big Ten tournament, causing Maryland to land as the 12 seed with a matchup against Rutgers looming on Wednesday at 6:30. The Terps will need to run the table in the tournament for any chance of a postseason berth.
“This has been a really disappointing year, a really frustrating year, kind of understanding the way I built the roster a little bit. I put a lot of pressure on these young kids, to be honest with you. That’s the one thing I wish I could have redone… even though I’ve seen them grow up and I’m really, really excited about Jamie and DeShawn, I put a lot of pressure on them and I think that’s a little bit hard,” Willard said.
“There are so many good things that these two have done with the opportunities,” he added. “It’s just hard in college basketball right now to be a freshman… I’m so proud, they’ve done a phenomenal job all year.”
Freshman big man Mady Traore started in place of Reese, but scored only two points in nine minutes of play. Caelum Swanton-Rodger got the bulk of the minutes in the center position, but added only five points and three rebounds before fouling out.
Penn State made its interior presence felt early, as Wahab scored nine of his 19 points in the first half to help the Nittany Lions take an early lead.
Trailing 24-19 with just over seven minutes to play in the first half, Maryland used an 8-0 run to take a three-point lead. An ensuing 7-1 run from Penn State gave it a 36-32 halftime lead. The Terps shot just 3-of-14 from three in the first half.
DeShawn Harris-Smith scored five of Maryland’s first seven second-half points, but Penn State opened up a 15-point lead thanks to a 13-5 run. Baldwin Jr. was able to knife through the lane at ease to create easy opportunities for his team. Six of his 11 assists came in the second half.
Maryland never brought the deficit to anything closer than 12, as the Terps shot 38% from the field and just 7-of-27 from three-point range. With the loss, the Terps have extended their streak of losses at Penn State to seven games, last winning in 2015. Maryland finished the conference season losing eight of its last 10 games.
The matchup vs. Rutgers will tip at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday night, and will air on Peacock.
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