Maryland men’s basketball is having a historical year, and not in a good way. The Terps have struggled against quality opposition, winning just one of their first eight games against high-major schools.
To make matters worse, Maryland has yet to secure its first Big Ten win of the season, and it’s been largely uncompetitive. The Terps have lost their first four conference games by a combined 65 points.
Without Pharrel Payne, Maryland’s offense has struggled to find its identity, often settling for poor shots from deep. But the Terps’ scoring reached a new low against UCLA on Saturday.
The Terps totalled just 21 first-half points and shot 30.3 percent from the field in their 67-55 defeat to UCLA at Pauley Pavilion.
Maryland fell to 0-5 in conference play for the first time in over three decades.
After Maryland’s first game of the season, Buzz Williams pointed to the team’s high turnover rate as an area that needed to be cleaned up. However, two months into the year, those careless miscues have persisted.
The Terps committed 49 turnovers during a three-game losing streak earlier this season. While Maryland has shown some recent promise, Saturday’s loss was a sign of just how far the Terps still have to go.
Maryland had 10 turnovers in the first half, plaguing it during a five-minute scoreless drought late in the opening half. The Terps made just nine shots in the first 20 minutes.
But its start suggested that maybe Maryland’s offense had finally woken up.
Darius Adams drained a corner three-pointer on the Terps’ second possession — a welcoming sign for the highly-touted freshman who has struggled from deep. Adams scored five of Maryland’s first nine points to fuel the team’s early advantage.
But the Terps’ lack of paint presence ultimately caught up to them once again. Without a clear center to alleviate some of Maryland’s perimeter reliance, the Terps have operated with a small-ball lineup. 6-foot-7 Solomon Washington and 6-foot-8 Elijah Saunders have manned Maryland’s starting frontcourt.
That undersized pairing has left the Terps without a reliable post player. In turn, Maryland has consistently jacked up shots from behind the arc. Maryland entered the night with the fourth-worst three-point offense in the Big Ten, shooting just 32.1 percent from deep.
Against UCLA, the Terps continued to stick with that offensive strategy. Nine of Maryland’s first 16 shots came from three-point range — the Terps drained just two of them.
In an effort to overcome the team’s poor efficiency, Maryland has crashed the glass at a strong clip this season. The Terps have averaged 12.9 offensive boards, which ranks as the fourth-most in the Big Ten.
While Maryland hauled nine offensive rebounds in the first half and dominated the glass, its extra looks didn’t lead to results. The Terps shot just 30 percent from the field and 20 percent from deep in the first 20 minutes.
Behind Maryland’s consistent offensive struggles, UCLA strung together a strong five-minute stretch to open up a sizable lead. The Bruins scored 16 unanswered points, largely from a balanced offensive diet — seven of UCLA’s eight-man rotation scored in the half.
The Terps trailed 38-21 at the break and needed someone to control the point production.
In the second half, that player was Saunders. Fresh off his season-high 16-point performance against Indiana, the Virginia transfer was once again Maryland’s best offensive option. Saunders drained consecutive three-pointers early in the half to give the Terps some momentum. He finished with a team-high 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting.
But without a clear second weapon, Maryland couldn’t string together a run to claw back in the game. Washington — who posted a team-high 14.7 points per game during the last three contests — scored just four points on Saturday.
Adams was the only other Terp to finish in double figures, and he scored 13 points on an inefficient 5-of-15 shooting performance.
While a 12-4 Maryland run cut its deficit to just seven points, the Terps ultimately couldn’t muster enough offense to pull off the comeback.
