Maryland men's basketball secures comeback win in Buzz Williams' return to Marquette

Chase King
6 days ago
2 min read

Without a pair of starters heading into tipoff and losing its star midway through the second half, Maryland men’s basketball secured a statement road win the second in a home-and-home, this time an 89-82 win in Buzz Williams’ return to Marquette.

‘Diggy’ Coit led the way with a season-high 19 points thanks to his early three-point shooting, one of five players to eventually post double figures in the road win.

Maryland opened a perfect 4-for-4 from deep with Coit leading those efforts, making his first eventual four attempts from three to propel the Terps to a double-digit lead.

Pharrel Payne would also start the game strong, scoring nine first-half points before picking up his second foul and getting seated for 10 minutes in the half.

The Terps would get up to a 30-19 lead before Payne would get subbed out. His absence proved to be a turning point early as Marquette capitalized on his absence, going on an 18-5 run to tie the game at 42 at halftime. Maryland would have a hard time defending Marquette's star guard Chase Ross, who would finish the game with 31 points and 4 assists.

Marquette would then open the second half on a 6-0 lead before stretching the lead to as many as nine, but the turning point in the game was another injury added to an already length list for head coach Buzz Williams after star big man, Pharrel Payne, went down with a gruesome injury after a dunk with 12:16 left in the second half.

The Terps were down by 53-58 when Payne went down, finishing with 13 points in 17 minutes on 6-of-6 shooting. But after an emotional stoppage, Maryland turned to inspired basketball and went on a 17-6 run after the injury to take control of the game.

The Terps maintained control of the game, never trailing after taking the lead at 65-64, and ultimately won 89-82.

Senior big men Elijah Saunders and Collin Metcalf had to take over for Payne and finished with a combined 12 points, 15 rebounds, and 2 blocks.

Junior Isaiah Watts and freshmen Darius Adams and Andre Mills would have a huge second half to help the Terps swarm back in the game.

Watts scored 11 points in the second half, shooting 3-for-4 from the field and 2-for-3 from three, and would hit the dagger with 1:50 in the game, which gave the Terps a 10-point lead.

Coit ended the game with 19 points, shooting 6-for-13 from the field and 4-for-7 from behind the arc, and 5 assists.

Maryland would also lose the offensive rebound battle 20-4, along with committing 2 more turnovers while Marquette outscored Maryland 25-6 in second-chance points. Despite that the Terps still won, in part due to do with their shooting, they finished the game shooting 52.7% from the field as well as shooting 27 free throws.

The Terps now have a home game against Mount St. Mary’s on Wednesday before going to Paradise, Nevada, for the Player Era Festival.

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