Maryland men’s basketball trailed by as much as eight points against UNLV, but clawed back to secure a 74-67 win Monday night in the first leg of the Players Era tournament in Las Vegas.
The Terps struggled
with turnovers and shot efficiency, but outmatched the Runnin’ Rebels when it mattered most.
Here are three takeaways from the night.
Payne and Rice returned, and produced
When Pharrel Payne had to be stretchered off the court after falling awkwardly against Marquette, many thought the Terps would be without their star big man for a while. But just nine days later, he was back in the lineup — alongside Myles Rice, who missed four of Maryland’s first five games with an injury.
Both players made their presence felt in the win.
It took Payne some time to get into rhythm, but once he did, he was right back in pre-injury form. The senior was a force on both ends of the court as always. He bodied defenders en route to a game-high 20 points on 7-of-8 shooting — with all of his points coming in the paint or at the line — alongside eight rebounds.
Payne’s late heroics helped seal the game, with a physical putback layup extending Maryland’s lead to eight and a thunderous alley-oop sealing the deal with less than a minute remaining.
Rice came off the bench in his return to action, playing 23 minutes. He played the point and held the ball a lot, but was a productive facilitator in that role. The Indiana transfer finished with eight points, six assists and three rebounds.
Diggy Coit was cold, but came through in the clutch
The graduate guard’s 41 points against Mount St. Mary’s on Wednesday earned him Big Ten Player of the Week honors. While Coit won’t be repeating that nod after his showing against UNLV, the points he did produce came when Maryland needed them most.
Coit went from a red-hot shooter against the Mountaineers to unable to buy a basket for 37 against the Rebels. He came out firing, but with little success — Coit was an abysmal 1-of-6 in the first half, with all six attempts coming from beyond the arc. He also struggled to move the ball, with five first-half turnovers.
Head coach Buzz Williams evidently gave Coit what he calls the “red light” on shooting out of halftime. The guard attempted just two shots in the first 17 minutes of the second half, missing both. But then he exploded down the stretch.
First it was a 3-pointer near the top of the arc with 2:51 left to extend Maryland’s lead to seven points. Then, just over a minute later, he did it again — this time making it an 11-point game. Two free throws closed out the game and sealed an eight-point explosion in the final three minutes.
Coit ultimately finished with 11 points, three assists and two rebounds.
Terps caught the turnover bug
Coit was the worst giveaway offender, but everyone contributed to an incredibly sloppy game for the Terps. They totaled 20 turnovers, Maryland’s most in a game since January 2023 against Rutgers.
“We were discombobulated, which is what they wanted,” Williams said. “We made incredibly poor decisions, and we could never get in a rhythm.”
The majority of them came from an abysmal passing outing by the Terps. Williams said after their win over Mount St Mary’s that the team, to that point, had had just 11 five-on-five practice sessions.
That lack of chemistry showed Monday night, with players simply not knowing where their teammates were. It was particularly a problem early on, with eight of the Terps nine turnovers in the first 11 minutes coming from bad passes. They finished with 15 total giveaways in the first half.
Things did get better as the game went on, though. Issues crept into the second half — Maryland committed five turnovers in the half’s first eight minutes — but those were the team’s final ones. The final 12 minutes of game time came without the Terps turning the ball over.
“We just tried to simplify,” Williams said. “No matter what they were doing, we were going to do the same thing, and we found some continuity in that.”
Coit led the team with five turnovers, but three players — Payne, Darius Adams and Andre Mills — had three, while Rice and Elijah Saunders had two. Aleks Alston was the only Terp without a giveaway Monday night.
