Shorthanded again, Maryland falls to third-ranked Purdue
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The most discouraging piece of Maryland's 75-67 misfortune to third-positioned Purdue on Wednesday night came as the halftime bell sounded, with Maryland Coach Mark Turgeon gazing toward the scoreboard and applauding as his group kept running back to the locker room.
The Terrapins were down 11, which was similarly baffling and empowering given how messy the effective Boilermakers looked in the initial 20 minutes. They missed 10 three-pointers and were, shockingly, outrebounded by the Terrapins, who were again playing with only eight grant players after senior focus Michal Cekovsky harmed his left foot rear area practically speaking Tuesday.
Be that as it may, Maryland's players have long abandoned utilizing their in need of help program as a reason for misfortunes, and despite the fact that Cekovsky's nonappearance was agonizingly apparent Wednesday, the Terrapins couldn't exploit Purdue's moderate begin. Maryland spent the whole second half endeavoring to uncover from underneath an opening — the Terrapins pulled inside 55-52 on sophomore watch Kevin Huerter's three-pointer with only over nine minutes remaining — however it was basically too profound.
" We were out of it early. Turned the ball over. Really couldn’t find a rhythm, " Turgeon said.
Green bean Bruno Fernando had 20 focuses and Huerter included 16 for the Terrapins (15-9, 4-7 Big Ten), who have lost six of their previous eight and wasted their last shot at a marquee meeting win at Mackey Arena. The Terrapins never had a response for Purdue focus Isaac Haas, who completed with 20 focuses and nine bounce back to stay a Boilermakers offense that played much cleaner in the second half, shooting 58 percent from the field.
Maryland frequently looked lost and overpowered in all out attack mode end, much as it has in the previous month, and it had four more turnovers (11) than field objectives made in the principal half. The half-court sets looked unfortunate now and again. Sophomore protect Anthony Cowan Jr., with a vigorously taped right hand and thumb, didn't at first advocate for himself. Huerter missed his initial five shots. Senior forward Jared Nickens bricked a terrified, reeling 25-footer as the shot timed lapsed on one ownership, while senior huge man Sean Obi dropped a go off his foot on another.
Purdue (22-2, 11-0), in the interim, had only one turnover in that traverse, demonstrating its veteran development even as it shot only 4 for 14 from three-point run. The Boilermakers could notice Maryland's distress as the second half opened — the Terrapins slice the shortfall to six on a three-pointer by Cowan — and chose it had enough. Purdue hit five back to back shots from the field to open up a 12-point lead before the main media timeout, with Boilermakers' front court mates Haas and redshirt green bean Matt Haarms devouring Maryland's thin inside.
With Cekovsky out, Turgeon was compelled to utilize Fernando on Haas; when Fernando experienced foul inconvenience in the second half, he pivoted redshirt first year recruit Joshua Tomaic and Obi in the front court to protect Haas. Those two players had logged only a consolidated 26 minutes joined in the past three diversions. Obi conferred five fouls in eight minutes on the floor and Tomaic, surrendering around 70 pounds to Haas, seemed as though he was out there basically attempting to survive.
" We just couldn’t guard Haas. He’s a beast. We had no answer. Sean . . . had five fouls. Josh couldn’t guard him, which isn’t fair to Josh, " Turgeon said.
Be that as it may, Maryland still figured out how to make a push in the second half, generally on the grounds that green bean Darryl Morsell (13 focuses, nine bounce back) made a string of troublesome shots and Huerter at last warmed up. Purdue was in firm control after a Haas layup made it a nine-point diversion with 10:34 remaining, however Huerter replied with successive three-pointers to slice the deficiency to three with 9:19 remaining. Not as much as a moment later, junior protect Dion Wiley left the amusement with a curved lower leg and didn't return. With Obi effectively fouled out, Turgeon's group was down to six grant players.
" I don’t think we felt sorry for ourselves. This team has been competing, ," Nickens said.