Sitting at 1-1 in league play coming into the day, Maryland fell into a 17-point hole to start the game Sunday in Ann Arbor and were never able to climb out, falling to the Wolverines by a score of 81-46.

The Terps were led by backup point guard Jahari Long, who came off the bench to score a team-high 9 points. Michigan, meanwhile, was led by DMV native Hunter Dickinson, who finished with a career-high 32 points and 12 rebounds for his third double-double of the season.

With the loss, the Terps are now a game below .500 in league play with a trip to New Jersey on Thursday to play Rutgers up next.

Here are three takeaways from the Terps' blowout loss at Michigan:

Terps can't buy a bucket

You don't have to go back very far to find some awful first-half offensive performances by the Terps. Against Tennessee, Maryland couldn't buy a bucket from beyond the arc in the first half, scoring just 17 points in a loss. Then in the very next game at home versus UCLA, things weren't much better, as the Terps trailed 49-20 at the half in a blowout loss.

After a pair of easy tune-up wins over the past two weeks, the Terps found themselves right back where they were versus the Vols and Bruins. The Terps trailed 17-0 early on and went nearly six minutes before scoring their first point on a Noah Batchelor free throw with 14:12 remaining in the opening half. Their first made field goal didn't come until the 12:09 mark when junior guard Ian Martinez hit a three to make it 19-4.

The Terps would go on to shoot an abysmal 4 of 30 (13.3%) from the field in the first half versus the Wolverines, trailing by a score of 44-13 at the intermission.

Coming off of a 19-point performance in which he was 5 of 7 from three versus UMBC, senior shooting guard Don Carey went 1 of 9 from the field, including 0 for 8 from beyond the arc, finishing with just two points in 29 minutes of action at Michigan. Between Carey and Martinez, the Terps' shooting guards went a combined 2 of 17 from the field to finish with 5 points. Teams simply aren't going to win many games when their shooting guards aren't able to make shots and score the basketball.

Foul trouble persists for Reese

Foul trouble has been an issue for sophomore big man Julian Reese this season and it was never more evident than versus Michigan in the early goings. Facing off versus Michigan's Hunter Dickinson, one of the premier big men in the country, Reese picked up his first foul just 2:03 into the game. By the 2:06 mark of the first half Reese had picked up his third foul of the game.

Reese would go on to foul out at the 9:43 mark of the second half having scored just 2 points in 16 minutes of action.

The fouling by Reese has now become a recurring issue and a real problem for the Terps. In his last eight games, Reese has now finished with four fouls three times and he's fouled out twice. Given their lack of depth in the post, the Terps need Reese to stay on the court, preferably for more than 25 minutes a game. This will require tip-toeing the line of being aggressive enough without fouling.

Willard sends a message to his starters

Kevin Willard was clearly sending a message to his starters Sunday night, benching all but Don Carey to start the second half versus Michigan. Excluding Carey, Maryland's starters played a combined 20 minutes in the second half versus the Wolverines.

Willard has relied heavily on his starters all season long, with returning seniors Hakim Hart and Donta Scott both averaging over 30 minutes per game coming into Sunday's contest. But with the game out of hand at the intermission, Willard chose to get an extended look at guys like Jahari Long, Noah Batchelor, Ike Cornish and Caelum Swanton-Rodger. Long finished with a team-high 9 points, all of which he scored in the second half, while Cornish and Swanton-Rodger showed glimpses of what Terp fans might expect to see in the future.

Willard will find out quickly how his starters respond to their lack of second-half minutes when the Terps travel to New Jersey to take on Rutgers this Thursday. The Terps are looking to avoid a 1-3 start to conference play with a home game versus Ohio State looming on Sunday.