Maryland men’s basketball already felt down for the count when it trailed by 13 points at halftime to Wisconsin. Then the second half happened.
The Badgers shot 55.6% from the field — and 53.8% from deep — in the closing 20 minutes. They turned a convincing win into an embarrassment for the Terps.
After 40 long minutes, Maryland limped out of Madison with a 78-45 loss under its belt. Fifteen conference losses is the most in the 103-year history of the program.
Buzz Williams now has five 30-point losses
in his first year at the helm. The Terps had three such losses in their first 11 years as members of the Big Ten.
Here are three takeaways from yet another ugly night for Maryland.
Both teams started slow. Wisconsin sped up.
The first nine minutes of Wednesday night’s game was a sight that made eyes sore.
Two of the least efficient teams in the Big Ten had, even for their standards, atrocious starts. 3-pointers clanked off rims. Green-light looks down low didn’t get converted. Each team was 2-of-10 to start.
Maryland’s first made jumper came over five minutes into the game, courtesy of an Elijah Saunders 3-pointer. Its second was another three minutes later — another Saunders triple. Its third jumper was at the 7:59 mark.
With 10:45 remaining in the first half, the score was 11-10. Wisconsin was 4-of-16. Maryland was 4-of-15.
All it took was an 8-0 run by the Badgers to pull away in a fashion that felt insurmountable — a six-point lead. At that point, things got ugly fast.
Wisconsin felt in control with a six point lead. That was with it starting 0-of-9 from beyond the arc. In the latter part of the first half, it was 6-of-10.
It didn’t come due to any big runs — Maryland was able to sneak in some quick buckets to avoid those — but by halftime, the Badgers had built to a chippy 13-point lead.
The second half was anything but chippy.
Collin Metcalf owned the first half and did nothing in the second
Metcalf now has 10 starts this season. Most of his playing time happens because Maryland doesn’t have another center — the senior has, to put it tamely, had a rough first year playing in a high-major conference.
Against a team in Wisconsin with three impact bigs that stand at least 6-foot-10, Metcalf — who’s 6-foot-9 — wasn’t expected to be a physical force. But his first half Wednesday night was his best half of the season.
On defense, Metcalf did much of the dirty work to clear space for Solomon Washington and Elijah Saunders to nab 10 defensive first-half rebounds. Metcalf had just two himself, but his real impact came on the other end.
Five first-half offensive rebounds was Metcalf’s most in a half all season. He finished with six, tied for a season-high. But the Terps only turned those second opportunities into nine points — it didn’t make much of a dent.
And in the second half, Metcalf was a nonfactor. He had one rebound and one assist in 12 minutes.
Metcalf finished the night with four points and seven boards.
Darius Adams is flaming out
Expectations for the composite five-star freshman guard were high entering the season. Adams was inconsistent in nonconference play, but the flashes and potential were clear — the ceiling was high if Adams refined his game.
But now with 19 Big Ten games under his belt, that improvement simply hasn’t happened. His repeated, clunky drives to the rim still aren’t resulting in baskets. And there’s no reason to believe he’ll turn this around anytime soon.
Adams finished with four points Wednesday, on 1-of-7 shooting. He’s been held to single-digit points in five straight games. Those four points came along with four rebounds, three assists and three turnovers.
The freshman has shot 50% or higher from the field in just five of 30 games this season. Adams is now shooting under 35% from the field and under 25% from 3-point range on the season. Those are simply not numbers that can be worked with.
His early-season calling card — as Williams repeatedly pointed out — was a “special” ability to get fouled. But now he’s not even doing that. Adams is averaging 2.54 free throw attempts over the first 17 games of 2026.
If 2026-27 is truly a year Williams looks to compete in, it’s fair to question whether Adams should be part of that vision.
