Maryland falls apart in the second half in an 88-71 loss at USC

Chase King
4 minutes ago
3 min read

Maryland men's basketball finished its two-game stretch in Los Angeles against the USC Trojans, where Maryland would fall apart in the second half of its 88-71 loss.

Maryland was in desperate need of a momentum-shifting win as it has slipped all the way to the bottom of the Big Ten standings. Maryland is now the only team with a below .500 record and zero conference wins.

USC was coming off a three-game road stretch and played its first home game in over three weeks.

Maryland made a change to the lineup that had started the last four games with the addition of Diggy Coit over Andre Mills. The lineup is composed of Coit, Darius Adams, Isaiah Watts, Solomon Washington and Elijah Saunders.

The addition of Coit to the starting lineup would prove to be a big one, as Coit carried Maryland’s offense, scoring 30 points on 9-for-18 shooting and 4-for-11 from three.

That was Coit’s third time scoring 30 or more points in a game this season, the latest one being against No. 2 Michigan on December 13 when he scored 31.

Despite Coit’s 30-point performance, the Terps struggled on offense with only two other players in double digits as Adams and Washington both scored 11.

Adams has scored double digits in 12 of the Terps' 17 games and did it with his best efficiency of the year tonight, shooting 60% from the field in only 16 minutes.

A big challenge that the Terps would have to overcome was USC’s size. The Trojans started 7’5 junior center Gabe Dynes and 6’10 sophomore forward Jacob Cofie, who instantly imposed his presence against the Terps.

The Trojans started the game in full control of the offensive paint, grabbing the game's first three rebounds, all coming off the offensive board, and scoring their first 12 points in the paint.

USC’s offense ran through the paint, which gave them consistent success, as Maryland didn’t have the size to get consistent stops down low.

The Terps’ offense struggled early, as they were stuffed when they tried pushing the ball in the paint. USC limited the paint touches and would play aggressively around the ball when Maryland did get in the paint, leading to turnovers.

Maryland would end the first half with only eight points in the paint and seven turnovers.

But Maryland found success on offense outside of the paint after Coit took over the offense. He ended the half scoring 19 points and shooting 9 of the Terps' 22 field goals. He also drew more attention, which allowed Maryland’s offense to find more success in the paint.

The Terps ended the first half shooting 11-for-12 (50%) from the field and 5-for-12 (41.7%) from three.

After finding success on offense, the Terps would only trail by one going into the half, 41-42.

Coit would continue his hot stretch into the second half as he quickly nailed a three along with an and-1, which put the Terps up 52-48.

But after that, USC’s offense came alive as they put together a 10-0 run as they dominated inside and capitalized on two Maryland offensive fouls.

The lack of size for Maryland proved fatal on the defensive end, as USC ended the game with 44 points in the paint while shooting 14-for-19 on layups.

The success inside also helped set up USC’s perimeter offense as they made five three-pointers in the second half.

Maryland’s offense began to go stagnant as USC worked to limit Diggy Coit’s ability to receive good looks in the front court, and Maryland tried to force its offensive production on contested three-point attempts and at the rim.

When Maryland tried to go to the paint, it didn’t work very efficiently, as the Terps shot only 4-for-10 on layups; they did get to the free-throw line.

“We've tried to give a little bit more language and pitchers to shot selection in hopes that that would increase our free-throw rate,” said Head Coach Buzz Williams. “And it did, 21 points from the free throw line is why we scored over 70 points.”

Maryland shot 21-for-27 from the free-throw line and averaged 24 free-throw attempts a game, but that number has decreased recently without star forward Pharrel Payne in the lineup.

USC’s offense would not slow down as they ended the second half with 46 points and blew right past Maryland.

USC outrebounded Maryland 35-to-24 and had 13 offensive rebounds to Maryland’s four.

“We're so reliant on offensive rebounds,” said Williams, “We didn't do a great job of that.”

Maryland will now go back home, where they have five days to prepare for Penn State on Sunday at 12 pm.

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