Maryland men's basketball suffers second straight blowout loss, falls 105-70 vs. eighth-ranked Alabama

Ahmed Ghafir
12 minutes ago
3 min read

Maryland men’s basketball’s second game against a ranked opponent in as many days ended similar to the first one: a blowout loss.

Maryland dropped its second consecutive game and fell to 5-3 on the season after falling to Alabama, 105-70, in the early hours on Thursday morning for fans on the East Coast.

Maryland has allowed 100+ points in consecutive games for the first time since January of 1993, while it’s the first time Maryland has allowed opponents to score 90+ points in consecutive games since January 2002. The 104 points mark the most allowed since Iowa scored 110 points back on Feb. 10, 2022. In summary, Maryland’s defense remains a work in progress as head coach Buzz Williams leads his team out of Sin City.

Pharrel Payne led the way for Maryland with 14 points and four rebounds while Darius Adams added 20 points on 7-of-17 shooting with his final ten points coming in the final 4:32 and the game already decided. Aleks Alston also notched a new career-high, posting eight points and seven rebounds in 25 minutes, while Guillermo Del Pino added ten points in 20 minutes thanks to a pair of threes.

Maryland never had a lead after Alabama capitalized on Diggy Coit slipping on the court to set up an easy dunk in transition, sparking a 7-0 run through the opening 90 seconds with head coach Buzz Williams trying to coach his team through a rough 40 minutes. It didn’t help that Alabama dominated the glass in both halves with the Crimson Tide securing 19 more rebounds and adding 18 more paint points by game’s end.

Alabama opened knocking down 60% both from three and the field, building an 11-point lead less than four minutes, stretching it to 15 by the under-12 minute timeout and holding onto a double digit lead for the final 14:57 of the first half.

With over six minutes left in the first half, Alabama stretched its lead beyond 20 points after a 7-0 run spanning 90 seconds while Maryland’s turnovers nearly matched its made field goals.

A 7-0 run ahead of the final media timeout helped trim the deficit down to 15, spearheaded by a jumper from Elijah Saunders before Aleks Alston knocked down the team’s third made three pointer after Darius Adams drilled the first two.

But the Terps’ offense came in small spurts with Alabama capitalizing once again, this time in the closing minutes of the second half to lead by as many as 23 points before taking a 20-point lead into halftime.

Pharrel Payne and Darius Adams anchored Marland’s scoring through the first six minutes of the second half with Maryland flirting with a 20-point deficit throughout, but the Crimson Tide proved to be too much over the last ten minutes after stretching its lead to 27 points with under eight minutes left and by 35 points with under five minutes remaining.

Maryland will now head back to College Park to open its December slate with Wagner headed to the Xfinity Center for an 8 PM tipoff on Dec. 2. Maryland will then travel to face Iowa to open conference play before hosting Michigan, who dominated Gonzaga in a 40-point win to capture the Players Era Tournament title.

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