After a seriously humbling 14-point defeat at the hands of No. 1 Purdue last Tuesday night, Maryland basketball traveled to Minnesota in search of its first Big Ten road win of the season.
With Maryland holding a 10-point lead with just over 16 minutes remaining in the second half, big-man Julian Reese picked up his fourth foul and was forced to sit. Minnesota took immediate advantage of his presence being off the floor and used a 23-11 run to take a two-point lead and never looked back, narrowly defeating Maryland, 65-62.
Maryland’s offense was stagnant in the second half without Reese, connecting on only two field goals over a nearly eight-minute stretch to allow Minnesota to jump ahead. The Gophers shot 5-of-9 from three-point range in the second half after shooting a dreadful 1-of-14 in the first half.
“We blew this game way before [Reese picked up his fourth foul],” head coach Kevin Willard said. “This team has got me a little perplexed because we don’t practice that way, we don’t prepare that way, and then we go out and we do some things that we don’t do in practice.”
With the loss, Maryland falls to 9-6 overall and 1-3 in Big Ten play. Entering play on Sunday night, Maryland had won its last 10 consecutive games against Minnesota.
“Obviously when [Reese] went out, that was huge,” Willard said. “I trust [Reese] with three fouls, I did it last year, and the fourth one, that was just a bad call.”
Reese, who finished with 14 points and nine rebounds, was held scoreless in Tuesday’s loss to Purdue, only attempting four field goals and failing to get to the free-throw line for the first time all season.
Last week, Willard made it clear how important an aggressive Reese is to the success of the Terps.
“That’s pretty much our biggest issue. He’s kind of struggled at times,” Willard said of Reese after the Purdue loss. “I think we’ve got to do a better job of trying to help him get some easy buckets at times to kind of loosen him up, but they did a really good job. He has got to realize that he’s number one on the scouting report and he’s got to bring it a little bit more than he has the last couple games.”
His involvement was clear early on, as he scored eight early points to help Maryland jump ahead 23-12. Maryland started 6-of-7 from the field and used an extended 16-2 run to surge ahead in the first half.
The Gophers, after connecting on five of their first nine shots, fell cold during the run and went over four minutes without scoring. Minnesota missed its first eight three-point shots.
Minnesota used an 8-0 run to trim Maryland’s lead to three late in the first half, thanks to a three by Braeden Carrington. After the hot start, the Terps went nearly eight minutes of their own without a field goal.
Free-throws from Reese and Jahmir Young, paired with a bucket by Donta Scott helped give the Terps a seven-point halftime lead.
Turnovers plagued Maryland’s ability to secure any major lead, as the Terps turned the ball over 15 times in the first half.
“We gave them almost 22 points off our turnovers,” Willard said. “On the road, it’s just a little bit perplexing. It’s disappointing because these guys aren’t practicing like this.”
“Some of these turnovers I can’t take credit for. Some of these turnovers were just absurd early in the game,” he added.
With Reese on the bench for nearly nine minutes of play in the second half, the Gophers began attacking the paint. Maryland was outscored 18-12 in the paint in the second half after leading that category by two in the opening 20 minutes.
The absence of Reese was obvious on both ends of the floor. He re-entered the game with 8:15 remaining, but was forced to withhold his defensive tenacity in fear of picking up his fifth and final foul. Minnesota took more advantage of this by attacking Reese on the interior at will.
Down the stretch, Maryland continued to search for any source of offensive help. The Terps made just one field goal over a nearly eight minute stretch until a Scott three-pointer trimmed the deficit to two points with just under a minute to play.
Elijah Hawkins split through a screen for an uncontested layup to give Minnesota a 59-55 lead with 34 seconds remaining, and ensuing free throws salted the game away for the Gophers.
Hawkins finished with 10 points and nine assists, one of four Gophers in double figures.
Maryland is now 3-12 in true road games and 7-17 in games away from the Xfinity Center in the last year-plus under Willard.
“I’ve got to go back and I think I’ve got to shuffle the starting lineup a little bit, shuffle who’s coming off the bench,” Willard said.
Maryland will face Michigan on Thursday, Jan. 11 at the Xfinity Center at 7 p.m. on FS1.
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