Playing on Christmas Day for just the second time in program history, Maryland (5-3, 0-2 Big Ten) used a second half rally to pull within a possession of Purdue (7-3, 2-1) at the end of the game, but the Terps fell just short Dec. 25 in a 73-70 loss to the Boilermakers at Mackey Arena.

Mark Turgeon’s squad is still searching for its first Big Ten win this season, but the Terps head coach was pleased with some of the progress he saw on Friday and thought his team fought hard against Purdue.

“We battled, guys. Not a lot I felt was going our way for most of the game and we battled,” Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon said. “We weren’t good enough defensively at the end to win the game. And you can blame the game on free throws. We were 10-for-21 from the foul line and a couple of those were front ends of one-and-ones. It makes it tough to win. But we battled, a lot of guys played well and did a lot of great things.

“Our post defense was terrific. Out perimeter defense wasn’t good enough whether getting beat off the dribble or giving up threes. But our guys battled and that’s all I can ask. We always felt like we were going to win, and we didn’t, but we always felt like we were going to win and we just couldn’t get over the hump at the very end. I thought we were going to sneak out with a one-point win and we just came up a little short.”

After trailing 41-28 at halftime, Maryland came out of the locker room much sharper and went on a 14-4 run to get itself back in the game.

“We were confident that we could win the game the whole game. It was just a matter of going on a run,” said Terps point guard Eric Ayala, who finished with 13 points, five rebounds, and three assists. “We got some stops and made some shots in the second half.”

Much of the box score was even between the Boilermakers and Terps, but the biggest difference was on the boards. Purdue finished with 41 rebounds to Maryand’s 31.

However, despite the even numbers on paper, Maryland never led at any point in the game and didn’t do the little things needed to win.

“It was one of those nights where you were swimming uphill all game, and we just couldn’t get over the hump,” Turgeon said.

The charity stripe was not kind to the Terps on Friday, particularly Darryl Morsell who went 1-for-6 from the line and missed arguably the biggest free throws of the game with Maryland down two and just 19 seconds left on the clock.

But, after the game, Turgeon was quick to defend his senior guard and point to many other factors that contributed to the loss.

“[Morsell] is upset, but that’s not why we lost the game because he missed those two free throws,” Turgeon said.

As he has most of the season, sophomore forward Donta Scott led the way for Maryland. Scott finished Friday’s loss to Purdue with a team-high 15 points and eight rebounds, scoring all of his points in the second half to help the Terps get back in the game.

“Our advantage there late was Donta Scott and he took advantage of it,” Turgeon said.

Purdue finished with four double-digit scorers, led by freshman forward Brendan Newman, who had 17. Eric Hunter Jr. wasn’t far behind with 16, while Jaden Ivey and Trevion Williams finished with 11 and 10, respectively.

Despite not coming out on top, Turgeon believes the loss to the Boilermakers is something Maryland can build upon moving forward. The Terps will have to hope he’s right as they enter the teeth of their conference schedule and travel to Wisconsin for a second consecutive road game.

“We played a really good Purdue team that played well and we battled. So I’m encouraged,” Turgeon said. “I was encouraged with our effort and our toughness tonight.”