In a matchup between teams hovering near the bottom of the Big Ten standings, Maryland and Rutgers delivered a performance that reflected their place in the conference race.
An ugly first half turned an ugly game throughout, but the Terps couldn’t keep pace with the Scarlet Knights’ slightly better second half.
After finishing the first half tied, Maryland was outscored 41-30, ending its two-game winning streak with a 68-57 loss at Jersey Mike’s arena.
“Our recipe is like incredibly specific,” head coach Buzz Williams said. “We had four or five possessions offensively in the first half, where we were resistant to the recipe, and then in the second half, we never got three stops in a row.”
Maryland and Rutgers (10-15, 3-10 Big Ten) came in as two of the worst offenses in the Big Ten. The Terps ranked 16th in the conference at 72 points per game. The Scarlet Knights were 18th (last), averaging 70.1 points per game.
Rutgers came in posting a season-long seven-game losing streak prior to Sunday. Its only two conference wins came at home in overtime against Oregon (2-12 Big Ten) and Northwestern (2-13 Big Ten), who are 16th and 17th place in the Big Ten, respectively.
Maryland (10-15, 3-11 Big Ten) has been a similar caliber team all season. The difference is that the Terps came in playing their best basketball of the season, having won two straight against Minnesota and Iowa.
Prior to those wins, Maryland was ranked the worst team in the Power Four conferences according to the NET. Sunday looked more like the team that fit that ranking.
Rutgers home court proved to be the difference. All three of its Big Ten wins have come at home, with Sunday marking its first regulation conference win.
Maryland shot 22-of-66 (33%) from the field, 7-of-30 (23%) from three-point range and 6-of-13 (46%) from the free throw line.
“The correlation between what we need to do on both sides of the ball, and it wasn’t as consistent as it has to be for us,” Williams said.
After scoring a career high 24 points in the Terps win against Iowa, Andre Mills struggled mightily. He finished with just nine points on 3-of-14 shooting in 34 minutes and fouled out — ending his four-game streak scoring in double figures.
Diggy Coit struggled off the bench as well. He scored just 12 points on 5-of-19 shooting and couldn’t channel the heroines that Maryland has needed to win games.
Darius Adams was the lone bright spot. He finished with 13 points on 5-12 shooting and 2-of-5 from three-point range.
Rutgers leading scorer, Tariq Francis, struggled from the field on 4-of-13 shooting, but made up for it at the line when Maryland fouled late in the game. He made 12-of-13 free throws for a game-high 21 points to prevent a Terps comeback late.
Like many games this season, neither team could find its footing on offense. It was especially ugly in the first half as each side shot 34% from the field and combined to shoot 3-of-22 on three-pointers. It was only fitting that they went to the locker room tied at 27.
The second half was much of the same, but Rutgers played slightly better.
Maryland switched to a 2-3 zone defense and Rutgers capitalized. It took the lead and never gave it up. Harun Zrno scored 11 of his 13 points, made three three-pointers in the first ten minutes of the half as Rutgers lead grew to as much as 13.
Maryland cut the deficit to five points with 5:12 remaining, but that was the closest it would get as it failed to build on the momentum of two big conference wins last week.
“Too many empty possessions in the first half and then zero turkeys [three stops in a row in the second], and then we never got fouled enough to increase our points per possession, Williams said. “So I would never say it’s an offensive or a defensive thing. I think it’s all intertwined.”
