COLLEGE PARK — For Mark Turgeon and No. 2 Maryland, the best part about Saturday’s woeful first-half in a 70-57 loss to Wisconsin was that those dreadful 20 minutes weren’t going to last forever, even if it felt as if there was no end in sight.
For nine minutes and 22 seconds, Maryland (22-4, 10-3 Big Ten) failed to score a point as Wisconsin muscled its way to an insurmountable 36-21 halftime lead. The Terrapins, in a desperate effort to find a rhythm on offense, turned the ball over nine times. Maryland’s best group effort came at the eight-minute media timeout when the student section unleashed its vaunted flash mob.
Maryland’s 27-game winning streak at Xfinity Center came to an end on Saturday night, but Turgeon hopes the lessons learned from a meeting with the fiery Badgers (16-9, 8-4 Big Ten) will endure as the Terrapins remain poised for a deep run in March.
“What I told the team is the reality is that we’re 22-4,” Turgeon said. “We’ve had a good year. Every team goes through it. It’s really the biggest adversity we’ve hit because we lost a home game. We’ll see how we handle it. I just want to get physically tougher, mentally tougher between now and Thursday. That’s really what I want to do. They’ve responded all year, so I expect them to do it again.”
Thursday presents a chance to bounce back on the road against Minnesota (6-18, 0-12 Big Ten), a team floundering at the bottom of the Big Ten standings after losing 13 consecutive games and 16 of its last 17.
The Terrapins’ loss to the Badgers was more disappointing than it was concerning. It wasn’t the first time this season that Maryland’s offense struggled to get going, but in previous wins, the team has been able to overcome such performances with solid defense and rebounding. In a 66-61 win against Ohio State on Jan. 31, Maryland shot just 30 percent in the second half, but did enough on the other end of the floor to leave Columbus with a victory. The Terrapins out-rebounded Ohio State, 41-35, and made six free throws in the final 25 seconds.
On Saturday, there was little the Terrapins could do to counter Wisconsin. Even when they cut the deficit to six in the second half, the Badgers went on to stretch it back to double-digits with a mix of battering Maryland in the paint and timely 3-pointers.
“We’ve come such a long way defensively, but we didn’t play as well as we could’ve and as good as we have lately,” guard Rasheed Sulaimon said. “We had a tough night offensively and a tough night defensively and we let it affect both ends of the court. It was just kind of a long period, especially in that first half, a lot of things weren’t going our way and I don’t think we responded to it quickly.”
Sulaimon refused to admit it was a “good loss” but understands the value in what could be gained from Saturday’s performance.
“From my competitive nature, I don’t think there’s any such thing as a good loss, but it could be an important loss,” Sulaimon said. “I think we’re making strides in the right direction and this game pointed out some things we’ve got to be better on. A game like this, a loss like this, after we watch film, it can make us better going forward. Just help us to improve all the weakness that we have and [get us to] play at a certain level and intensity every game.”
Saturday’s loss could serve as a jolt for the Terrapins, who have not received much brushback from opponents this season. Maryland was challenged to win on a night when Melo Trimble, the team’s leading scorer, made just one of his 14 field-goal attempts.
From Sulaimon to senior Jake Layman, there was confidence — not to be mistaken for complacency — that the Terrapins will be better because of their last outing.
“This game will be good for us in the long run,” Layman said. “We’ll learn from it and move forward. I think it will bring us together. We’re 22-4 right now. If somebody told me that at the start of the season, I’d take that. We’re fine. We’ve just got to come back to practice ready to work.”
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