NEWARK, N.J. — No. 7 Maryland (10-2, 1-1 Big Ten) couldn’t recover from its first loss of the season Dec. 19, as the Terps dropped their second consecutive game and fell flat in Newark, New Jersey, Dec. 19, in a 52-48 loss to Seton Hall (7-4).
“I thought Seton Hall was terrific, especially on the defensive end,” Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon said after the game. “Their big guys were terrific, blocking shots, guarding the ball was great. They were switching their defenses tonight and we didn’t play well. We’re not playing with a lot of confidence right now and I have to find a way to get our guys confidence we don’t even look like the same team we were three weeks ago.”
Maryland had three double-digit scorers Thursday night, but couldn’t contain Pirate’s leading scorer Quincy McKnight, who finished with 17 points, eight rebounds, and six assists.
Terps point guard Anthony Cowan led Maryland in scoring with 16 points, but also led his team with five turnovers or Thursday night. Cowan was joined in double figures by Aaron Wiggins and Jalen ‘Stix’ Smith, who each scored 11 and ripped down seven and nine boards, respectively, but overall the Terps shot just 27 percent from the field and hit just five of 21 three-point attempts on their way to a sub-50 point performance.
“We have to get better at a lot of things,” Turgeon said. “The No. 1 thing is confidence. The break I guess is coming at a good time for us, coming back but we know our issues and we’ll try to get them fixed. I don’t know if it’s chemistry. I think it’s just recognizing situations better. We keep working on it, we keep talking about it. It’s just recognizing certain situations and better decision making. I think that will be it moving forward. We’re highly disappointed as a coaching staff and as a team with the way we played tonight. Sometimes you have to hit rock bottom. I don’t know if this is rock bottom, we’ll see. But if it is, then maybe we’ll come back and play better after Christmas.”
Maryland committed 17 turnovers and played with what seemed like little urgency on Thursday night. Even without Seton Hall’s two leading scorers Myles Powell and Sandro Mamukelashvili playing in the game, the Pirates were still able to grind out a close win at home.
“Even without their best player today I think they just wanted it,” Cowan said. “I just don’t think we did what we needed to do.”
Maryland outrebounded Seton Hall 42-33, but the Pirates held the advantage in points scored in the paint 26-16. One of the biggest differences in the game was Seton Hall’s 15 blocked shots to Maryland’s 5.
With back-to-back losses since being ranked as the No. 3 team in the country, Maryland now must right the ship before picking up Big Ten play. The Terps take the court next Dec. 29 against Bryant and will take what they learned in their last two losses and will look to show improvement in their next outing.
“No game is going to come easy,” Wiggins said. “They were missing two of their best players and we just have to realize that nothing is going to come easy, every team is going to fight. No team is going to lay down and regardless of who they have on the court everybody has to come lock downed with the same mentality and game plan.”
