Maryland Terrapins: Still Championship Contenders Despite Loss to Michigan
By Joe Serpico
The Maryland Terrapins are still a championship contender despite the 70-67 loss to the Michigan Wolverines on Tuesday night.
Tuesday was not a friendly night to several teams ranked in the Top 25 as four of the nation’s best suffered losses. The Maryland Terrapins were one of those unfortunate teams.
The performance was similar to the game against North Carolina. Maryland trailed most of the game and struggled to defend the perimeter as Michigan hit several shots from long-range. Duncan Robinson was lights out from three, shooting 5-of-9, as the Wolverines were 12-of-29 from beyond the arc. The Terps trailed by as many as 13 points in the second half, but rallied back and briefly took a 57-56 lead. Michigan would hit two more crucial three pointers that proved to be enough to hold on for the win.
There is a lot that can be taken away from the loss. Mark Turgeon has to realize that his team is struggling out the gate. The Terps have been a phenomenal team in the second half, but have had to play nearly flawless basketball. The losses to Michigan and North Carolina came in games where Maryland trailed most of the game and made a valiant attempt to comeback. Diamond Stone needed 39 points for the Terps to come from behind and defeat Penn State.
The concern for Maryland is how Michigan was able to shut down the backcourt duo of Melo Trimble and Rasheed Sulaimon. Trimble was ineffective throughout, scoring only two points. Sulaimon scored eight, but his miss in the final seconds gave the Terps their second loss of the season. The reserves were even more disappointing as Jared Nickens, Varun Ram and Jaylen Brantley scored zero points in 32 combined minutes. As the Terrapins get closer to tournament play, opposing teams know the key to stopping Maryland is limiting the impact the perimeter players have on the game.
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The positive in the game was the effort from everyone else, including Jake Layman, who scored 18 points. Layman was the only consistent scorer in the first half, before Stone took over in the second half, scoring 19 of his 22 points after the break. Stone continues to grow and has become a dominant force inside the paint. He is strong at the rim, and more importantly, hits the free throws when he gets fouled attacking the basket. Robert Carter Jr. added 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting.
There was little chance that the Terps were going to finish out the season with just one loss. Maryland had won nine straight games prior to the trip to Ann Arbor, but the Big Ten Conference will likely have a regular season champion that suffers a three or four losses. The teams are too good and will beat up on each other. It is also possible that the national champion has somewhere between three to six losses. That is what makes this college basketball season one of the more exciting years in recent memory. There is no front-runner to take the crown like years past.
Kansas, Iowa State and Miami were the other three teams to fall Tuesday. Kansas was the top-ranked team in the country and another team with title aspirations. Losses are going to happen in conference play. That does not derail the Terps from the goal of winning it all.
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The Terps have a size advantage on most teams which gives them a bonus, but guard play is usually the deciding factor entering the tournament. The Maryland Terrapins still have one of the best duos in the country in Trimble and Sulaimon, and will be one of the favorites come March.