Published Feb 16, 2019
Maryland unable to overcome offensive woes in 65-52 loss at No. 6 Michigan
Pat Donohue
Staff Writer

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Despite a better effort in the second half for the second straight game, No. 24 Maryland (19-7, 10-5 Big Ten) couldn’t dig out of the hole it put itself in early Feb. 16 against No. 6 Michigan (23-3, 12-3), as the Wolverines were able to stave off several Terps runs to come away with a 65-52 victory at Crisler Center.

“I thought Michigan was terrific, especially on the defensive end,” Maryland head coach mark Turgeon said. “I’m sure they would have liked to have played a little bit better offensively, but defensively they were everywhere, dialed in. You could tell it was a team coming off of a loss. They responded that way last time (off of a loss to Iowa). I think they went to Rutgers after that loss and really played well, especially early in that game. The obvious is we built too big of a hole. Against a great team you can’t do that and we did it.”

Maryland was within striking distance multiple times in the second half, including with just under 7 minutes left in the game, down five and with the ball when junior point guard Anthony Cowan Jr. missed a layup that would have brought his team within one possession. That miss turned into a five-point swing as Wolverines freshman forward Ignas Brazdeikis hit a three at the other end as the Terps struggled to get back on defense in transition like they had most of the afternoon.

“I was just disappointed after Anthony missed the layup that we didn’t run back on defense,” Turgeon said. “To me, that was the game.”

With multiple missed layups and 16 turnovers against Michigan on Saturday, Maryland did not show the discipline needed to beat the Big Ten’s top team. Matters were made even worse for the Terps with their star center Bruno Fernando taking some time to get going and failing to score in the first half.

Fernando finished with 12 points and eight rebounds after regrouping at halftime, and while the Terps played better in the second half than they did in the first against the Wolverines, 36 percent shooting percentage as a team, not taking care of the ball, and lackluster transition defense prohibited Maryland from pulling off the upset.

“A lot of it was their defense and a lot of it was us not executing,” Turgeon said. “I thought we missed some bunnies around the rim. Bruno was overthinking it, extra pivoting instead of just jumping up and shooting or contesting. And then it kind of snowballed on us. We had some outlandish turnovers during that stretch.”

Although Fernando had one of his worst 20-minute stretches of the season in the early going against Michigan, Turgeon sees it as an anomaly for the Angola native, who is averaging a double-double this season and had seven straight entering Saturday.

“[Fernando] let his offense affect his defense,” Turgeon said. “So that was the most disappointing thing. I can handle missing jump hooks, but you have to bring it at the other end. And he hasn’t done that all year. But in the second half he was terrific and played much better.”

Michigan was led by three double-digit scorers Saturday with senior wing Charles Matthews leading the way with 14 points to go along with a team-high six rebounds. Brazdeikis netted 13 points while junior point guard Zavier Simpson stuffed the stat sheet with 12 points, eight assists and five rebounds. But it was the Wolverines’ 7-foot-1 center Jon Teske that disrupted Maryland’s post presence and tormented the Terps all game long.

Teske finished the game with nine points, four rebounds, and three blocks.

“Teske was everywhere,” Turgeon said. “Teske was tremendous. He protected the rim, ball-screen defense. He was really good.”

Maryland’s 52 points were a season-low as were its 18 in the first half. The Terps were led in scoring by freshman wing Aaron Wiggins, who posted 15 points off the bench and has come on strong as of late. Wiggins hit three from deep while also adding six rebounds and three assists to his totals.

Maryland will take its 13-point loss on the chin and head to Iowa for another road game against a ranked opponent when the Terps take on the Hawkeyes Feb. 19.

“We’ve played through mistakes and things all year and today looked like we didn’t do that at times,” Turgeon said. “So hopefully we’ll learn from it and get better.”