Maryland appeared ready to grab a No. 1 seed for the NCAA Tournament. However, they had a frustrating loss at Ohio Saturday. Now, they are struggling mighitly on the road again. This time at “The Barn” in Minnesota.
The Terrapins fell behind by double-digits early, trailing 47-31 at halftime.
Certainly, it was not the way Maryland planned their trip to Minneapolis. One sequence illustrated their struggles, as the Terps missed three straight layups on one trip, causing a frustrated Mark Turgeon to come out of his suit jacket.
The play started with an Aaron Wiggins’ steal. Anthony Cowan lobbed the ball for an unsuccessful alley hoop to Darryl Morsell. Cowan got the offensive rebound but too missed a layup attempt. Hakim Hart grabbed the missed but his layup came up short.
To make matters worse, Minnesota finally got the rebound leading to a transition dunk by Jarvis Omersa to extend the Gophers’ lead to double-digits. Turgeon was out of his jacket after that.
Maryland’s struggles continued throughout the first half. Cowan shot 2-of-10 from the field in the first half. As a team, Maryland shot 2-of-14 from three in the first 20 minutes. Minnesota countered by shooting 7-of-13 from behind the arc.
If Maryland has desire to hang on to the Big Ten regular season title and earn a No. 1 seed in next month’s NCAA Tournament, they must turn things around in “The Barn.”
