The Maryland Terrapins men’s basketball team suffered its first loss under head coach Kevin Willard. The Wisconsin Badgers used an 11-2 run in the second half to pull off a 64-59 upset of the Terrapins.
Chucky Hepburn scored a team-high 13 points and Steven Crowl added 12 points and nine rebounds to lead the Badgers to victory.
Maryland guard Jahmir Young scored a game-high 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting. Julian Reese added 10 points and six rebounds. But the rest of the team struggled to score.
Maryland’s leading scorer Donta Scott shot a dismal 3-of-14 from the field, finishing with nine points although he had ten rebounds. Hakim Hart, who entered the game shooting 60.3% from the field, was 2-of-10 for five points.
As a team, Maryland shot 38.2% from the field, far below their 49.3% field goal shooting during their 8-0 start.
The Terrapins entered Tuesday only trailing by a mere eight minutes and 44 seconds in their first eight games, all wins. Against Wisconsin, Maryland trailed for all but three minutes and seven seconds.
Young gave the Terrapins their last lead with a jumper at 43-42 with 11:24 remaining in the second half. Maryland didn’t score another field goal until 3:37 remaining when Young hit a three. The Terrapins missed ten straight shots and trailed 58-50 when the stretch ended.
Maryland fought and closed the gap to five points. However, the Terps could get no closer due to rushed shots and questionable decision-making.
Georgetown transfer Don Carey inexplicably fouled the rebounder after missing a three with 2:17 remaining. That led to two free throws by Hepburn that extended Wisconsin’s lead to 60-53.
Later down the stretch, Donta Scott rushed a floater nine seconds into the shot after the Terps got a stop. Then Hart missed a jumper, got his own rebound, and missed a layup badly with just over 33 seconds remaining.
“I thought we had opportunities, we didn’t take them,” Willard said, per Nicky Wolcott of The Diamondback. “I thought we hurt ourselves because we didn’t take advantage of some of the opportunities we had.”
The loss comes just one day after Maryland leaped to No. 13 in the Associated Press top 25. Maryland also landed at No. 6 in the NCAA’s first NET rankings.
The Terrapins must regroup quickly, as they will face Tennessee in Brooklyn for the Basketball Hall of Fame Invitational on Sunday. Then the Terrapins will host UCLA next Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Wisconsin gets a second straight quality win, beating Marquette on Saturday. The Badgers improve to 7-2 on the season. Its two losses came against Kansas by one point and Wake Forest by three.
