Maryland erases 19-point halftime deficit, but runs out of gas late in loss to Rutgers

COLLEGE PARK — Maryland has played a lot of Jekyll-and-Hyde games in what has become a historically-wayward men’s basketball season. Sunday’s tilt with Rutgers, who boasted an identical record and similar disappointment, was the epitome of the campaign.

The Terrapins played their worst first half of the season, scoring only 20 points and committing 14 turnovers, yet somehow furiously erased a 19-point halftime deficit before eventually falling to the Scarlet Knights, 69-65.

“I was caught off guard in the first half,” Maryland coach Buzz Williams said. “I would not say fatigue, but it’s like anything — there’s always three parts with good programs, good teams: You have to play really hard, you have to prepare the right way, and then you have to execute. And we didn’t do all three of those things, particularly in the first half.”

Rutgers guard Tariq Francis led all scorers with 19 points and was a perfect 10-for-10 at the foul line. Darren Buchanan Jr. added 14 points and Jamichael Davis chipped in 12 for the Scarlet Knights (12-17, 5-13), who swept the season series with Maryland after winning two weeks ago in New Jersey.

“We gave it to them too many times, and we fouled them way too many times … we let them get to the rim too much, and on the way to the rim, we fouled too often,” Williams said. “We needed to get to the rim. We didn’t get to the rim enough, and we didn’t get fouled enough. But partly because they were taking it from us.”

Solomon Washington and Andre Mills each scored 15 points for Maryland (11-18, 4-14), which lost its third Quad 3 game of the season and now has the most conference losses since its 1992-93 ACC campaign. 

Elijah Saunders scored 11 points for the Terrapins, with all three of his field goals coming from 3-point range. Maryland made two more threes than Rutgers, but the Scarlet Knights’ 23.5% rate (4-of-17) was still better than the Terrapins 21.4% (6-of-28).

“You know, sometimes shooting is like the weather,” Saunders said, “but you’ve got to keep playing defense, keep rebounding and taking care of the ball. I feel like when we do that, we’re a different team than when you just give the ball to the other team.”

The loss further mires Maryland in the Big Ten’s basement, with two regular-season games remaining before all 18 schools head to the conference tournament next week.

“I feel like when we play for each other, we play differently. So sharing the ball, trying to get downhill, playing to our strengths, and knowing that, you know, we’ve built a better foundation than where we were January and December,” Saunders said.

Maryland’s worst first half of the year started with it missing five shots across its first three possessions and nine of its first 13. Williams went heavy on bench rotations, Heavy rotations, with 10 of Maryland’s available 13 players getting minutes in a vain effort to generate a spark on offense.

It didn’t work.

A 13-2 Rutgers run in the middle of the half allowed it to double up the Terrapins, 30-14, dovetailing with five Maryland turnovers in the same span.

The Terrapins often looked tired, or worse, like they weren’t trying. Maryland committed 14 total turnovers in the first half — nearly matching its point total — as it trailed 39-20 at halftime.

The lone positive: rebounds. Maryland pulled down 27 to Rutgers’ 10 in the first 20 minutes, including a 10-to-1 advantage on the offensive glass. Maryland would eventually win the rebound battle by an even wider margin: 50 to 26. Yet shot opportunities when they weren’t turning the ball over were poor, with only nine made field goals in the first half.

Somehow —inexplicably — the teams reversed roles in the locker room during the break.

“They knew, as it was transpiring in the first half, that we weren’t playing the way that we have to play. And that’s kind of why I let them say what they had to say at halftime,” Williams said. “They were already talking by the time I got in there, and then I thought their execution of those things in the second half — two changes, one offensively, one defensively — were both really good. I thought that was a spark.”

Back-to-back threes from Mills and Saunders immediately after halftime lit the flame. Two minutes later, the Terrapins capitalized, reeling off a 13-0 run to get to within 45-41.

It was the Scarlet Knights who looked lost, not scoring for a 5-plus minute period, while the Terrapins extended their run to 20-2 and took their first — and only — lead of the game, 48-47, after Washington was fouled on a layup and converted the and-one.

“If you’re down 19, you’re probably going to have to change the pace a little bit … I thought it kind of gave us life,” Williams said. “We were able to get consecutive stops more often in that first 10 and a half, 12 minutes. I thought they did a really good job executing the change. We just did a poor job in the first half of executing the plan.”

After the run, it was again Maryland who struggled, going scoreless for 4 minutes as Rutgers pulled back ahead. A 6-0 run that featured a layup and dunk from Dylan Grant nudged the Scarlet Knights to 60-54 with 3:19 remaining before they made 9-of-10 foul shots in the final 30 seconds as Maryland tried to extend the game.