By Megan Smedley

Maryland’s seven game win streak came to an end Saturday afternoon as the Terps lost in the last second to ranked rival Purdue 73-72.

Despite Maryland leading the majority of the game, Purdue was able to crawl their way back with consistent shooting and dominant defense. Maryland was held without a field goal in the final seven and a half minutes of the game. It all came down to a last second shot from Kevin Huerter that narrowly missed the basket, sending Purdue into a frenzy. For Head Coach Mark Turgeon, the result of the game was not what he expected.

“The crazy thing is, I never thought we were going to lose,” said Turgeon. “And then all of a sudden, we foul them and it’s like ‘Oh my god, we might lose this game.’ You know it never entered my mind during the game.”

“We lost the other day but I think that helps us refocus and it keeps us humble,” said junior point guard Melo Trimble.

Turgeon was pleased with Michal Cekovsky’s performance on Saturday, calling it a positive in the loss. The junior has been battling a left ankle injury and missed six games at the start of Big Ten play.

“Ceko was terrific, wasn’t he?” Turgeon said. “God, he was fun to watch.”

The Terps don’t have much time to dwell on the loss though. They travel up to State College to take on the Nittany Lions Tuesday night.

“Penn State’s really talented,” Turgeon said. “…I think this time of year it’s about getting them mentally ready, getting them physically ready, that’s really what’s important.”

“We know we have a tough matchup against Penn State,” said Trimble. “Any team is hard to beat out when we’re playing in their house.”

Since joining the Big Ten, Maryland is 3-0 against Penn State, all of those games within a seven point margin. However, Head Coach Mark Turgeon is never focused on just the next game.

“As a coach you not only think about tomorrow night, you think about four weeks from now and what can we do to make this team better,” said Turgeon.

WMUC Sports and Jake Eisenberg will be on the call tomorrow night live from State College. Tipoff is at 6:00 p.m.