Maryland men's basketball falls to Rutgers despite 19-point comeback

Chase King
Mar 1
3 min read

Maryland stormed back from a 19-point halftime deficit but would fall in the final minutes as Rutgers won the second head-to-head in two weeks.

Maryland Men’s Basketball (11-18, 4-14) hosted the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (12-17, 5-13), where they lost 69-65, reaching 14 conference losses for the first time since 1992-93.

Maryland traveled to New Jersey exactly two weeks prior, where they lost to the Scarlet Knights 68-57. The Terps struggled to score on their first try, shooting only 33% from the floor, 23% from three, and 46% from the free throw line.

The Terps' offensive struggles against the Scarlet Knights would continue. The Terps scored their lowest number of points in a half in Big Ten play, only scoring 20 in the first half.

Maryland looked utterly out of place, playing their sloppiest half of basketball all season. They turned the ball over 14 times in the first half while shooting 32.1% from the field and 1-for-14 from three.

Rutgers entered the game ranked No. 151 on KenPom, but they were in complete control of the first half. They finished with 14-of-31 from the field with 14 points off of Maryland turnovers. That would be enough to help Rutgers go into the half with a 39-20 lead.

The tides would change in the second half as Maryland came out looking like a completely different team.

“They knew, as it was transpiring in the first half, that we weren't playing the way that we have to play. And that's kind of why I let them say what they had to say at halftime,” said Head Coach Buzz Williams.

“They were already talking by the time I got in there. And then I thought their execution of those things in the second half - two changes, one offensively, one defensively - were both really good.”

They’d come out of the gates with two straight three-pointers before launching into a 20-2 run. The Terps' defense would force three turnovers while limiting Rutgers to a 1-for-10 shooting stretch, while they went 6-for-11 with two three-pointers and six made free throws.

After Solomon Washington took the lead with an and-one, the Terps' offense would stagnate. They would fail to score for over three minutes, which allowed Rutgers to take the lead and control over the final minutes.

With the game tied 54-54 with four minutes left, Rutgers would score on three straight possessions, giving them a 60-54 lead.

Maryland would cut the lead to two, but after a potential go-ahead three-pointer by Diggy Coit missed, the Terps would have to resort to fouling. Rutgers would go 9-of-10 from the FT line in the last 30 seconds, which stopped Maryland from potentially stealing the game.

Maryland would once again begin committing turnovers down the stretch. Three of the turnovers came off of offensive fouls, with a charge from Solomon Washington eventually ending the game with less than ten seconds to go.

Guillermo Del Pino and Isaiah Watts both saw a lot of time in the second half and were the only two Terps to finish with a positive plus-minus.

“[Isaiah] has a really high basketball IQ. He has the ability to be in the right spot,” said Williams.

Maryland won the rebounding battle 50-to-24 with 16 offensive rebounds to Rutgers’ 5 offensive rebounds.

“We've done so much better on the glass. When the ball is in the air, we're doing better on the glass because our shot diet has improved. It's more predictable,” said Williams.

The Terps will now shift their focus to the road, where they will play at Wisconsin on Wednesday.

Related Links