Michigan dominates down the stretch as Maryland drops first B1G home game

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- For the first time this season, No. 17 Maryland (21-9, 12-7 Big Ten) lost at home to a Big Ten opponent, as No. 9 Michigan (26-4, 15-4) played near flawlessly down the stretch March 3 to come away with a 69-62 road victory over the Terps.

The stats were virtually identical between both Big Ten teams Sunday, but Michigan hit six of its last seven field goal attempts and got to the line a few more times than Maryland throughout the game. The Wolverines only turned the ball over four times total, including just once in the final 27 minutes.

“We’re disappointed,” Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon said. “We wanted to win. We wanted this bad today and we just couldn’t get it. We just didn’t get it done. So we’ll regroup. We have a chance to get to 13-7 in the toughest league I’ve ever coached against, the toughest schedule with the youngest team I’ve ever coached. So we’re disappointed but we lost to a top-10 team that played better than we did today, shot more free throws in our building that we did and they deserve to win.

“Give them credit. They’re terrific. My gosh, they have good players. We were great defensively until about the five minute mark and then I think they scored seven straight times against us. That was really the difference.”

With Wolverines senior and team leader Charles Matthews out with a leg injury, all five starters scored in double figures for Michigan, led by freshman forward Ignas Brazdeikis, who finished with a game-high 21 points to go along with seven rebounds while also holding Terps sophomore center Bruno Fernando to 12 points on 5-for-13 shooting. Fernando did, however, also add 10 rebounds to his totals for his 19th double-double of the season.

“I tried to get the shots that I usually do, the shots that I work on everyday,” Fernando said. “They just weren’t falling for me tonight. [Brazdeikis] is a heck of a player, a great defensive presence for them in the paint. I still believe I got the shots that I wanted. They just weren’t falling.”

Brazdeikis was aided by Wolverines point guard Zavier Simpson, who posted a double-double with 12 points and 10 assists while playing through foul trouble in the second half. Sophomore wing Jordan Poole also scored 12 for Michigan on Sunday afternoon while Isaiah Livers--who was filling in as a starter for Matthews--and Jon Teske each netted 11.

Maryland’s defense wasn’t awful as it held Michigan to 44 percent from the field and to only six threes, but the Wolverines seemed to make all the shots that mattered, especially when it came to closing out the game.

“On most of their possessions I felt like we guarded great,” Terps sophomore Darryl Morsell said. “They made some tough shots. Simpson made some tough hook shots, the other kid [Brazdeikis] made some tough shots, some running floaters with the opposite hand. Teske hit a big three for them. We guarded how we’re supposed to. I feel like they just made big shots when they had to.”

In contrast to their last few outings, the Terps started the game hot against the Wolverines in front of a raucous, sellout crowd at Xfinity Center that included a large contingency of Maryland hoops alumni from both the Gary Williams and Mark Turgeon eras.

But after jumping out to a 22-16 lead in the first half with several chances to expand their lead, the Terps went cold and closed the half 1-for-10 from the field to enter the locker room with a four-point deficit at halftime thanks to a 12-2 Michigan run.

“A lot of things were positive about today,” Turgeon said. “The crowd was terrific from the beginning to the end. The student section was great. They inspired us early and we got off to a great start. It was great to have all the former players back, a lot of former players here tonight, which was great. Obviously we wish we could have won for them. But it meant a lot to us that they were here. I thought we battled. We didn’t play particularly well at times but we battled.”

Like Michigan, all five of Maryland’s starters also scored in double figures on Sunday. But it was more volume than anything else as the Terps’ leading scorers, Fernando and Anthony Cowan Jr., failed to have efficient games.

“Guys we count on offensively didn’t play particularly well tonight, but give [Michigan] credit,” Turgeon said. “They were great defensively. We’re disappointed, but we played hard.”

Cowan was particularly off on the offensive end, shooting just 4-for-15 from the field to net just 10 points. He also was sloppy with his ball handling at times, committing four turnovers to just one assist.

“They did a nice job on [Cowan],” Turgeon said. “They have great size. Even now with Livers starting instead of Matthews, they add another shooter and even more size to their starting lineup. Anthony I thought he was trying as hard as he could out there. He just couldn’t get anything going. We ran a couple of plays and got him some good looks and they just weren’t going for him. Just one of those nights.”

The Terps will look to bounce back in their regular season finale March 8 when they host Minnesota in a game that could determine whether or not Maryland earns a double-bye in the Big Ten Tournament.

“The season is not over,” Morsell said. “We’re going to put this behind us. We’re going to move on from this and we’re going to focus on Minnesota.”