Jahmir Young received the in-bound pass just left of the top of the key. Young had seven seconds left on the shot clock and just about 30 seconds left in the game. The fifth year guard got the ball to his left hand, stepped back and as the shot clock hit zero Young’s three was already through the net.
Young gave Maryland its first lead of the second half, but it wasn’t enough. Wildcat guard Boo Buie answered Young’s three with a mid-range push shot that put the Wildcats ahead by one. Northwestern won the ensuing free throw battle in the last 20 seconds to beat Maryland, 72-69, Wednesday night.
“We didn’t guard the ball down the stretch and that really hurt us,” said head coach Kevin Willard.
Young and Buie showed why they stand atop the Big Ten leaderboards in scoring combining for 41 points in the second half. The duo took all their team’s field goal attempts in the final two minutes creating an exciting back and forth battle between the two guards.
“Buie and Jahmir, I mean, they just went head to head,” said Willard. “Jahmir was phenomenal.”
Young never got going in the first half scoring just eight points in 15 minutes of play. Young was dominant in the second half scoring 28 of his 36 points, missing only three shots. Buie ended the game with 20 points, 13 coming in the second half.
Besides Young’s slow start, turnovers plagued Maryland’s first half. The Terps had ten turnovers in the first 20 minutes which led to nine points for Northwestern. Julian Reese contributed five of those turnovers due to the pressure from Northwestern’s double team whenever he was on the post.
Maryland shot a better percentage than Northwestern from the field and from beyond the arch, but the Terps shooting couldn’t make up for the turnovers, leading to a 32-28 deficit at halftime.
Maryland cleaned up the turnovers committing only three in the second half, but still there was no separation. No team earned better than a six point advantage in the final 20 minutes, although Northwestern held the lead for most of the half.
Maryland ended the game shooting better than Northwestern in every category except for free throw percentage. The Terps got outrebounded for the sixth time this season, losing 30 to 27 on the boards. Maryland’s bench didn’t score a point, giving Northwestern a 15-0 advantage in bench production.
The Terps end their Illinois road trip 1-1, earning a top-10 victory over Illinois in the first leg of the road trip. Maryland’s conference record falls to 3-4 and its’ record away from College Park to 2-4 on the season.
“The way we’re playing on the road with consistent effort against a team that obviously beat Purdue here [a] very tough place to play, [the] place got loud,” said Willard. “We gave ourselves a chance and that’s what you got to do.”
The Terrapins return to the Xfinity Center for a Sunday matinee game against Michigan State at 12pm.
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