Maryland men’s basketball got healthy in its first game of the Players Era Festival. 

Just nine days after suffering a gruesome injury, Pharrel Payne reappeared in the Terps’ starting lineup on Monday. Payne was a big factor with 20 points, reaching the 1000-point milestone during the game. Myles Rice also returned for the first time since Maryland faced Georgetown. 

Those two players played a vital role in the Terps’ 74-67 victory over UNLV Monday. Payne and Rice combined for 21 second-half points, fueling Maryland’s fourth consecutive win. 

After battling with injuries throughout the first five games of the season, the Terps are starting to get healthy. Solomon Washington did not play on Monday, but he seems likely to return soon — he was dressed in uniform on the bench. 

The Terps struggled for most of Monday, but came alive in the second half. Maryland shot 50% and erupted for 47 points to come from behind and secure the win. 

While injuries have plagued Maryland all season, UNLV has had similar issues.  With only one healthy big on Monday, Payne’s return gave the Terps a big boost in the paint. The Terps fed him consistently, taking advantage of the Rebels’ lack of size.

It paid off. Payne had his way down low in the second half, exposing UNLV’s size mismatch and muscling through the contact to get easy buckets.

Early on, the Terps struggled to keep possession and turned the ball over 15 times in the first half. The Terps cleaned things up down the stretch and only had five turnovers in the second half. 

UNLV’s defense had a 1-1-3 set and made the Terps uncomfortable by forcing them to adjust.  It was a look that Maryland hadn’t seen and it forced a turnover or a bad shot. UNLV had 17 points off turnovers in the first half — its defense was its biggest motor for its offense.  

“We were discombobulated, which is what they wanted,” head coach Buzz Williams said. “We made incredibly poor decisions, and we could never get in a rhythm.”

Despite getting healthy, the Terps looked completely out of sorts offensively. Maryland shot 11-of-31 (35.5%)  from the field in the first half and shot only 3-of-15 from deep. 

After shooting 8-of-10 from deep and scoring 41 points against Mount St.Mary’s, Diggy Coit took a step back on Monday. He shot 3-of-11 on Monday and had five first-half turnovers against UNLV. 

After struggling all night, Coit caught fire to put the Rebels away with two clutch 3-pointers. It wasn’t as strong of a performance, but it was as clutch. 

Aleks Alston had a breakout first half after not seeing the court for much of the season. He had his season-high with six points and proved to be a serviceable bench option. 

“I thought he was great. He has skill. He’s tentative in regards to the physicality he has to play with,” Williams said. “I do think, through extra film and through extra reps, he wants to learn, and he’s making some progress.”

Darius Adams was Maryland’s offense in the second half, scoring 11 of his 15 points in the final 20 minutes. 

That said, turnovers continued to haunt the Terps. Anytime Maryland had any momentum offensively, it turned the ball over. UNLV consistently capitalized, scoring on the other end.

Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn was UNLV’s top scorer with 17 points, but the Rebels fell cold in the second half. The Terps went on a run to take the lead as UNLC went scoreless down the stretch of the second half. 

But when Maryland seemed to take control in the second half, it reverted back to its struggles in the first half. The Terps didn’t make a field goal for just under four minutes down the stretch, but found life when it needed it most. 

The Terps didn’t play well for the majority of Monday’s late-night matchup, but stepped up when it needed it most. Maryland didn’t turn the ball over for the final 13 minutes and relied on its top scorers for a come-from-behind victory. 

“So I think the solution or somewhat of the solution was we just tried to simplify. No matter what they were doing, we were going to do the same thing, and we found some continuity in that,” Williams said. “But very lucky considering how high our turnover rate was to have a chance to win.”