Maryland’s past four games against ranked opponents allowed for some optimism, however, its match against Ohio State was as good as over from the start.
Against Maryland men’s basketball, the Buckeyes put together a dominant performance, winning 82-67.
The Terps’ match was the third in a five-game gauntlet against teams who had received votes for the top 25. This game especially proved to be tough, as the Buckeyes were the only team in the Big Ten who had yet to lose at home.
Maryland got the first lead of the game, but afterward, it never was close to getting it back.
At the end of the first half, Maryland was shooting 32% compared to Ohio State’s 62%. The Buckeyes had a 13-point lead at halftime.
“The biggest thing is, when you go on the road, or any time in general, you can’t let a team shoot 60% in a half,” said coach Danny Manning. “That’ll put you in a pretty big hole, which it did for us.”
The second half was more of the same as Ohio State’s lead ballooned to 22 points. Although a late Maryland push allowed for a slight opening to crawl back in, subsequent shots from E.J. Liddell put the game on ice. It was too little, too late for the Terps.
Maryland had officially fallen below .500 for the first time in over five years. The last time the Terps held a losing record was in the 2013-14 season.
As is often the case this season, Maryland had no defensive answer for its opponent’s best player. Liddell ended the game with 24 points and 11 rebounds.
Maryland’s bench was also largely absent. Julian Reese’s six points were the only points scored outside of the starting five. Against a deeper Ohio State squad, Maryland’s lack of depth was clear.
Donta Scott was one bright spot of Maryland’s game. His career-high tying 25 points led both teams in scoring. He also shot an effective 5-8 from three, compared to the rest of the team’s combined 5-21.
“We kind of just worked on our game plan,” Scott said. “We knew that most of the time they’re going to try to get on [Eric Ayala] and try to make sure he doesn’t get going. But we just stepped up the game plan.”
It was another bad showing from Ayala, Maryland’s scoring leader for the season. This was especially true from beyond the arc, where in his last three games, he’s shot 5-24. At Ohio State he made only two field goals.
“[Ohio State] disrupted his rhythm, contested his shot, [and] had a lot of different guys on him using their length and athletic ability,” Manning said. “Just a rough shooting night from the perimeter for Eric.”
Thursday, the Terps will hope to break from their three-game losing streak and get back to .500 at home against Iowa.
