Badgers top Terps, halt Maryland home winning streak

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- After the Terps marched into Madison Jan. 9 and beat the Badgers at Kohl Center, which like Xfinity Center is considered to be one of the toughest venues in college basketball, Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon knew Wisconsin would be a force to be reckoned with later in the season.

Unfortunately for Turgeon and his team, the Terps still had one more matchup with the Badgers on their schedule and Wisconsin returned the favor Feb. 13 by beating No. 2 Maryland 70-57 in College Park to snap the Terps’ 27-game home winning streak.

The Badgers have won eight of their last nine games and seven in a row since dropping one at home to the Terps and are one of the hottest teams in the Big Ten right now.

“I want to give Wisconsin a ton of credit,” Turgeon said. “Man, were they good tonight. They were dialed in from the beginning. They were quicker; they were more physical. Coach Greg Gard has done an unbelievable job with his team. When I shook his hand at their place, I knew they were on the right track and they were terrific tonight.”

Maryland came out on fire, hitting six of its first 10 shots, but the Terps went ice cold from there, making just one more shot the rest of the first half. The Terps went more than eight minutes in the first half without scoring a point, which helped put them in a 15-point hole at halftime.

“We just took some bad shots and didn’t share the ball,” senior forward Jake Layman, who was one of four Terps to score in double figures with his 10 points to go along with five rebounds and three blocks, said. “We didn’t find the open man. We weren’t ourselves in the first half.”

Thanks to missed free throws and more poor shooting from the field throughout the rest of the game, the Terps became the latest highly ranked team to fall to an unranked opponent this season. Maryland uncharacteristically finished the game at 54.5 percent from the free throw line (12-for-22) and 40 percent from the field (20-for-50) against the Badgers.

“I didn’t have our guys ready,” Turgeon said. “We got up 14-7 and then kind of lost ourselves, couldn’t score.”

Maryland brought the score close again in the second half by making it 45-39. But every time the Terps went on a run, the Badgers had an answer and hit a momentum-killing shot.

“It was tough,” shooting guard Rasheed Sulaimon said of Wisconsin’s ability to hit shot after shot to maintain its lead. “They had a great second half and every time we felt like we were making a big run or chipping away at the lead they made a big shot, and that can be really discouraging at times. But I’m proud of the way we fought. We fought to the last second and we tried. That’s how the ball bounces sometimes and tonight just wasn’t our night.”

Sulaimon finished the game as Maryland’s leading scorer for the third game in a row by putting up 17 points.

Turgeon echoed Sulaimon’s sentiment and said he was pleased with the Terps’ effort in the second half.

“We just couldn’t make plays,” Turgeon said. “I mean, we get to the foul line and miss those free throws. We missed some layups. We missed threes. It just wasn’t meant to be but it was not for a lack of effort. I thought our guys in the second half played with great effort.”

Sophomore point guard Melo Trimble and freshman center Diamond Stone were the other Terps to score double digits, each netting 10 points. But it was neither players’ finest night.

Trimble finished the game 1-for-14 shooting, and although he dished out six assists, he had five turnovers as well. However, Trimble’s teammates still have faith in him when it comes to performing in big games.

“We trust him with the ball in his hands,” Layman said. “I think that if this game came down to the wire and one shot, the ball would be in his hands no matter what.”

Stone was almost ejected from the game after a scuffle between both teams at the end of the first half. Replayed showed that Stone pushed Wisconsin forward Vitto Brown’s head into the floor while simultaneously being pushed in the back by the Badgers Nigel Hayes.

After reviewing the play for a few minutes, the officials decided the infraction was not ejection-worthy and ultimately handed out technical fouls to each team.

Neither Turgeon or Gard had much to say about the incident after the game. Turgeon admitted that he hadn’t even seen a replay yet, but added that he would take a look and talk to Stone accordingly.

“No, I did not see it,” Turgeon said. “I’ve heard about it. It was a pretty physical game at the time. I will watch it and I will talk to Diamond.”

Despite the loss and some controversy mixed in, the Terps do not plan to let this loss linger and believe they can even grow from it.

“This game will be good for us in the long run,” Layman said. “We will learn from it. The loss will bring us more together. We are 22-4, and if someone told me that before the season started, I would say, ‘OK, I’ll take that.’ We are fine. We just have to come to practice ready to work.”