For 15 minutes, everything was going right for Maryland men’s basketball.
The Terps were hosting No. 2 Michigan after getting crushed in their Big Ten opener — and underdogs by upwards of 20 points against
the Wolverines. It didn’t look like that on the court.
The atmosphere in Xfinity Center was electric for Maryland’s second Saturday night primetime game since joining the Big Ten. The Terps gashed the nation’s most efficient team inside and out, keeping pace with a prolific offense and playing its best basketball of the year.
But with less than five minutes remaining in the half, Yaxel Lendeborg fell backwards off a rebound and landed on Pharrel Payne’s right ankle. The center’s leg appeared to buckle awkwardly, and he collapsed. Overcoming Payne’s absence in a second game wasn’t doable for Maryland, which slumped late to a 101-83 defeat.
Losing Payne opened the door for Lendeborg to feast. The preseason AP All-American went a perfect 4-of-4 in the second half, finishing with a team-high 29 points.
But Diggy Coit was ready to go blow for blow. For the second time this season, the undersized guard was the biggest threat on the court, creating space whenever necessary with side cuts, stepbacks and double-stepbacks to get shots off. He had a game-high 31 points.
The pair drove their teams from the very beginning. Coit laced a wide-open, long-range 3-pointer to open Maryland’s night, ratcheting up the energy; eight seconds later, Lendeborg punished the Terps with a triple of his own.
That lightning-fast transition game was a concern for head coach Buzz Williams, but Maryland was able to limit it early. The Terps went over five minutes without committing a turnover, and more crucially, Coit was on a heater — he scored nine of Maryland’s first 10 points, with the makes giving Maryland a chance to set itself defensively.
A Wolverines team that entered the game a Division-I best 65.1% on 2-point shots found lots of success from 3-point range. Michigan went 6-of-10 from beyond the arc in the first half, repeatedly finding the open man on rotations.
Maryland kept pace with deep shooting of its own. Myles Rice, Elijah Saunders and even Solomon Washington knocked down 3-pointers that brought Maryland back.
But it was still the Coit show in College Park. He matched the Wolverines by himself with six 3-point makes in the first half, and he nailed another on the first possession of the second half.
Maryland came out of the half knowing Payne wouldn’t return. But Washington’s ejection 75 seconds into the half after his second technical foul of the game — a delay-of-game call after shoving a Wolverine — made things worse.
The Terps went without a rebound for the first 3:43 of the second half, leaving them unable to work second-chance opportunities. Michigan went on a 15-4 rampage, quickly erasing Maryland’s hard-earned lead.
The lowlight of the stretch was a knock from Turkson into the back of 7-foot-3 center Aday Mara that was upgraded to a flagrant foul — anti-officiating jeers rang out from a jaded Xfinity Center crowd.
Coit kept the Terps afloat — he single-handedly sent the Terps on an 8-2 run — but the interior size difference was apparent. Neither Turkson nor Saunders looked comfortable in the five-spot, and spot minutes from Aleks Alston and Collin Metcalf were ineffective.
Three things to know
1. Maryland’s first-half rebounding masterpiece. With George Turkson Jr. healthy for the first time in weeks, Williams began the game with a solid four-deep rotation of forwards in Turkson, Saunders, Washington and Payne. That combination helped Maryland out-rebound Michigan, 20-14, for 20 minutes.
They kept Mara off the glass and minimized the impact of Lendeborg and Morez Johnson Jr., who each logged four first-half rebounds — as many as Coit. But when Maryland lost two of its three starting forwards, the efforts were nullified.
2. The guards stepped up. For the Terps to have any chance against Michigan, they needed to get production from their backcourt. Coit’s performance was immense, but Maryland also benefited from a comeback game from Myles Rice. The Indiana transfer, who lost his spot in the starting lineup, finished with 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting.
3. Offensive flow lost without Payne. The difference between Maryland and Michigan’s offensive setups were clear. Everything the Wolverines did flowed through Elliot Cadeau, who finished with 10 assists — Maryland had just nine as a team.
The Terps moved the ball well over the first half, with Coit playing a point guard-esque role but still focused on shooting first. When Payne and Washington went out, the offense went stale, and Maryland found itself relying on individuals making their own shots. With Maryland again fearing an extended absence for Payne, it will have to figure out how to recreate its offensive motion.
