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Maryland men’s basketball wasted an incredible effort from Andre Mills.
Mills outdueled Big Ten leading scorer Nick Martinelli by exploding for a game-high 39 points, but Mills got little help as the Terps wilted in the second half of a 78-74 loss to host Northwestern on Wednesday night before an announced 4,974 at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Illinois.
Mills scored 22 points in the first half and added three rebounds. Although Maryland (10-16, 3-12 Big Ten) looked much better from what it showed in Sunday’s 68-57 setback at Rutgers, the team dropped its second game in a row.
“I thought we played with incredible fight,” coach Buzz Williams told the Maryland Sports Radio Network. “I thought we did a lot of the things we had to do. I thought we were better in a lot of ways than we were on Sunday.”
Martinelli, the senior power forward who entered the game leading the conference in scoring and ranking eighth nationally at 22.1 points per game, paced the Wildcats (11-16, 3-13) with 29 points (16 in the second half). Junior shooting guard Jordan Clayton and sophomore shooting guard Angelo Ciaravino came off the bench to score 20 and 16 points, respectively.
Here are three developments from the result.
Mills rebounded from a quiet showing at Rutgers in a big way.
Three days after missing 11 of 14 shots, including 5 of 6 from 3-point range, to finish with nine points in that 68-57 loss to the Scarlet Knights, Mills set a new personal best in scoring, surpassing the 24 points he scored in a 77-70 victory over Iowa the week before.
Mills carried the offense on his back in the first half, shooting 8 of 10 from the floor and 3 of 4 behind the 3-point line. The rest of the team connected on 5 of 13 attempts and misfired on all six 3-point shots.
But Mills got little help from his teammates. Senior small forward Solomon Washington was the only other player to reach double figures by scoring 11 points. The Terps converted just 35.5% (11 of 31) of their shots and 33.3% from 3-point range (5 of 15) in the second half.
Williams’ answer to a question about plugging holes in the Terps’ play seemed applicable to the struggles on offense.
“It’s layers to success,” he said. “It’s never one reason why you have success or one reason why you have failure.”
The game turned midway through the second half when Maryland went scoreless for 4:47 and Northwestern scored 14 unanswered points to turn a 50-44 deficit into a 58-50 advantage. Perhaps appropriately, Mills ended the Terps’ drought with a 3-pointer.
When the Terps needed someone on offense to make an impact, the silence was deafening.
Big Ten opponents have rediscovered their long-range prowess when they line up against the Terps.
The Wildcats became the fifth team in the league to compile double-digit 3-pointers against Maryland when they connected on 12 of 21 shots (57.1%) for the game. The 12 3-pointers matched a season high set in a 94-73 win against Penn State on Jan. 29.
After splashing 5 of 9 long-distance bombs (55.6%) in the first half, Northwestern was even better in the second half when the offense nailed 7 of 12 (58.3%). Clayton converted all four of his 3-point attempts in the second half, and Martinelli went 2 of 4.
Surrendering some 3-pointers seemed acceptable to Williams — just not as many as the Terps did.
“You’re going to give up some 3s,” he said. “… You are going to give up some. Our contests were not great at times.”
Entering the game, Martinelli had been mired in what amounts to a slump by his standards. He had averaged 24.6 points in the Wildcats’ first 11 games in the Big Ten, but slid to 13.5 points in the last four games.
“You can’t let [Martinelli] wear you out on wood 2s, and you can’t foul him,” Williams said. “He scores eight points on free throws. That would be the one thing that was a part of the plan that we didn’t execute very well.”
Turns out all Martinelli needed was a meeting with the league’s second-most permissive defense to get right.
The four worst teams in the conference do not get the luxury of a first-round bye in next month’s league tournament. Maryland apparently wants to do it the hard way.
Wednesday’s loss puts the Terps behind Rutgers (11-15, 4-11) for the 14th and final spot for that first-round bye. And if they somehow find themselves tied with either Northwestern or Oregon (9-17, 2-13) in the standings, both the Wildcats and Ducks own head-to-head tiebreakers.
The four worst teams will play in the first round on Tuesday, March 10. Then they must win five more games to earn the Big Ten’s automatic qualifier to the NCAA Tournament.
At the rate Maryland is playing, confidence in such a scenario is waning — quickly.
Have a news tip? Contact Edward Lee at [email protected], 410-332-6200 and x.com/EdwardLeeSun.
Continue reading...
Mills outdueled Big Ten leading scorer Nick Martinelli by exploding for a game-high 39 points, but Mills got little help as the Terps wilted in the second half of a 78-74 loss to host Northwestern on Wednesday night before an announced 4,974 at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Illinois.
Mills scored 22 points in the first half and added three rebounds. Although Maryland (10-16, 3-12 Big Ten) looked much better from what it showed in Sunday’s 68-57 setback at Rutgers, the team dropped its second game in a row.
“I thought we played with incredible fight,” coach Buzz Williams told the Maryland Sports Radio Network. “I thought we did a lot of the things we had to do. I thought we were better in a lot of ways than we were on Sunday.”
Martinelli, the senior power forward who entered the game leading the conference in scoring and ranking eighth nationally at 22.1 points per game, paced the Wildcats (11-16, 3-13) with 29 points (16 in the second half). Junior shooting guard Jordan Clayton and sophomore shooting guard Angelo Ciaravino came off the bench to score 20 and 16 points, respectively.
Here are three developments from the result.
Mills enjoyed a career outing, and it still wasn’t enough
Mills rebounded from a quiet showing at Rutgers in a big way.
Three days after missing 11 of 14 shots, including 5 of 6 from 3-point range, to finish with nine points in that 68-57 loss to the Scarlet Knights, Mills set a new personal best in scoring, surpassing the 24 points he scored in a 77-70 victory over Iowa the week before.
Mills carried the offense on his back in the first half, shooting 8 of 10 from the floor and 3 of 4 behind the 3-point line. The rest of the team connected on 5 of 13 attempts and misfired on all six 3-point shots.
But Mills got little help from his teammates. Senior small forward Solomon Washington was the only other player to reach double figures by scoring 11 points. The Terps converted just 35.5% (11 of 31) of their shots and 33.3% from 3-point range (5 of 15) in the second half.
Williams’ answer to a question about plugging holes in the Terps’ play seemed applicable to the struggles on offense.
“It’s layers to success,” he said. “It’s never one reason why you have success or one reason why you have failure.”
The game turned midway through the second half when Maryland went scoreless for 4:47 and Northwestern scored 14 unanswered points to turn a 50-44 deficit into a 58-50 advantage. Perhaps appropriately, Mills ended the Terps’ drought with a 3-pointer.
When the Terps needed someone on offense to make an impact, the silence was deafening.
Maryland’s perimeter defense was sieve-like again
Big Ten opponents have rediscovered their long-range prowess when they line up against the Terps.
The Wildcats became the fifth team in the league to compile double-digit 3-pointers against Maryland when they connected on 12 of 21 shots (57.1%) for the game. The 12 3-pointers matched a season high set in a 94-73 win against Penn State on Jan. 29.
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After splashing 5 of 9 long-distance bombs (55.6%) in the first half, Northwestern was even better in the second half when the offense nailed 7 of 12 (58.3%). Clayton converted all four of his 3-point attempts in the second half, and Martinelli went 2 of 4.
Surrendering some 3-pointers seemed acceptable to Williams — just not as many as the Terps did.
“You’re going to give up some 3s,” he said. “… You are going to give up some. Our contests were not great at times.”
Entering the game, Martinelli had been mired in what amounts to a slump by his standards. He had averaged 24.6 points in the Wildcats’ first 11 games in the Big Ten, but slid to 13.5 points in the last four games.
“You can’t let [Martinelli] wear you out on wood 2s, and you can’t foul him,” Williams said. “He scores eight points on free throws. That would be the one thing that was a part of the plan that we didn’t execute very well.”
Turns out all Martinelli needed was a meeting with the league’s second-most permissive defense to get right.
Terps are heading toward a first-round date in the Big Ten Tournament
The four worst teams in the conference do not get the luxury of a first-round bye in next month’s league tournament. Maryland apparently wants to do it the hard way.
Wednesday’s loss puts the Terps behind Rutgers (11-15, 4-11) for the 14th and final spot for that first-round bye. And if they somehow find themselves tied with either Northwestern or Oregon (9-17, 2-13) in the standings, both the Wildcats and Ducks own head-to-head tiebreakers.
The four worst teams will play in the first round on Tuesday, March 10. Then they must win five more games to earn the Big Ten’s automatic qualifier to the NCAA Tournament.
At the rate Maryland is playing, confidence in such a scenario is waning — quickly.
Have a news tip? Contact Edward Lee at [email protected], 410-332-6200 and x.com/EdwardLeeSun.
Continue reading...
