No. 7 Cavaliers Crush No. 21 Terps in First Loss of the Season

By Krista Bliumentalis

Dribbling the ball through his legs, freshman Dion Wiley pulls back behind the three point line and sinks a tough three, adding to his total of nine points in the first half for Maryland. Despite the lively crowd of 15,713 fans, the Terps (7-1, 0-0 Big Ten) ultimately fell to the Cavaliers 76-65 at the XFINITY Center on Wednesday evening.

Wiley’s efforts were needed for the remainder of the game as he noted his second game in double figures this season.

“Tonight he hit two big, tough threes when we did not really have anything going,” said head coach Mark Turgeon when commenting on Wiley’s play. “His next step is going to be getting better defensively and hopefully with assists he will take some pressure off of Melo.”

Maryland competed well against a very composed Virginia team despite the loss. The start of the second half was led by a dunk from Jake Layman, who ended the game with 14 points and five rebounds.

“He played hard, tried to communicate and he tried to defend to get something going. He got to the basket and made some free throws,” coach Turgeon said.

Richaud Pack also contributed crucial minutes and points for the Terrapins. Pack, who scored a total of 11 points for the Terps, managed to sink a key three-pointer in the second half that cut Virginia’s lead to 10 points, making the score 64-54.

Melo Trimble continued to be hot for the Terps, knocking 16 points against Virginia. (Courtesy of UMTerps.com)

Freshman Melo Trimble scored 16 points for the Terps in Wednesday’s match.

“I think Melo was terrific. He had two guys guarding him most of the time so I thought he was great. He got to the foul line 14 times against a team that was just trying to stop him,” said coach Turgeon.

Trimble went 12-14 from the free throw line.

Virginia’s Malcom Brogdon led the Cavaliers with 18 points along with Mike Tobey who scored 14 points. Both Brogdon and Tobey helped the Cavaliers cruise to victory by scoring nine points each in the second half.

After playing Virginia, coach Turgeon stated, “we have to be a lot better defensively… We did not quit and we kept trying to respond and I think we will be a better team after playing Virginia tonight.”

This was the first loss for the Terps this season. They hope to bounce back in a home game on Saturday, December 6 against Winthrop. Game time is set for 2 p.m. and will be on ESPN3.