Maryland loses to Wisconsin in Big Ten mens basketball
Turning a halftime deficit into a win requires at least some improvement, and overcoming a task as daunting as Maryland’s 18-point hole against No. 14 Wisconsin on Wednesday night would have demanded something close to perfection. For a brief stretch after halftime, the Terrapins flashed that form. Then turnovers, missed shots and a few defensive lapses became reminders of what cannot erase such a large advantage, and the Terps suffered a 61-55 loss at Xfinity Center.
The Terps (9-8, 3-7 Big Ten) faced a 38-20 deficit at the break before they generated an impressive turnaround. Maryland cut the lead to three points with 11:45 to go but never climbed closer. The Badgers (13-4, 7-3) responded and reclaimed their double-digit cushion. The Terps made one final push to pull back within seven with about two minutes to play, but they missed shots on open looks during back-to-back possessions, and Wisconsin sealed the win.
Micah Potter, a redshirt senior forward, led Wisconsin with 23 points and 12 rebounds, giving his team a needed boost when the Terps threatened. Wisconsin didn’t make a basket during the final seven minutes of play, but during Wisconsin’s 11-0 run that preceded that field goal drought, the Terps committed turnovers on three straight possessions after they had pulled to within four.
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Maryland had only nine turnovers in the game, “but, gah, three or four of them were just at the worst time for us,” Coach Mark Turgeon said, “so that makes it tough.”
“I don’t think we played great,” Turgeon continued. “We missed open shots and we had a bad three-minute stretch before half and made a couple mistakes defensively in the second half, and that’s all they needed with an 18-point lead. But we battled till the end.”
Junior guard Aaron Wiggins led the Terps’ late surge, scoring 16 of his 18 points in the second half. He played with aggressiveness and confidence — the version of himself that doesn’t always surface but that Maryland desperately needs. Sophomore forward Donta Scott contributed 13 points, but Maryland’s early trouble cost the Terps a chance to burnish their NCAA tournament résumé. Junior guard Eric Ayala, who leads the Terps in scoring, finished with only four points on 1-for-10 shooting.
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“We’ve just got to have more guys play better,” Turgeon said.
The Terrapins have defeated three ranked teams on the road — including a win at Wisconsin on Dec. 28 — but Maryland has yet to win a conference game at home.
The Terrapins’ abysmal offense doomed them early in Wednesday’s game, even though they had some good looks. Maryland started the game by missing its first nine shots from three-point range; the drought ended only when Scott hit a three-pointer with about six minutes left before halftime. With Wisconsin denying the undersized Terps in the paint, Maryland had to settle for threes and shot a woeful 2 for 14 in the first half before finishing 9 for 30 from beyond the arc against Wisconsin’s strong defense.
Even with that shooting trouble, the Terps’ hopes did not evaporate right away. Maryland’s defense kept the game from completely unraveling early. The Badgers, who entered Wednesday third in the nation with only 8.4 turnovers per game, committed five turnovers in the first half on their way to finishing with 12.
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Maryland trailed by eight points after senior guard Darryl Morsell made two free throws with 3:40 left in the first half, but Wisconsin seized control to build its 18-point lead by halftime. Potter, who scored only four points in the December matchup, fueled the Badgers from the beginning Wednesday, scoring 14 of his points in the first half.
“I’m going to state the obvious: We lost the game really right before halftime,” Turgeon said.
The Terps opened the second half with consecutive three-pointers from Wiggins and Hakim Hart, reversing the trend from earlier in the game. With its bench energized in the empty arena, Maryland paired that burst with solid defense that didn’t allow the Badgers to score on their first five possessions of the half. Maryland’s 11-2 run cut its deficit to single digits, and the gap eventually narrowed to three when Wiggins made a jumper with 11:45 to play.
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But after that, “we just stopped guarding,” Wiggins said. “We lost a little bit of effort on the defensive end, and we began to go shot for shot with them instead of trying to get more stops and continuing to do it on the defensive end. Because when our offense isn’t going, our defense will keep us in the game.”
In response to Maryland’s surge, Potter scored nine points during a two-minute stretch, and when he capped that spurt with a three-pointer, the Badgers’ advantage was back to 15. Maryland’s brief glimmer of optimism faded into another Big Ten loss at home.
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