Maryland loses heartbreaker versus No. 15 Marquette, 78-74

Photo courtesy of Samantha Osborne/ Maryland Terrapins

Things looked bleak for Maryland men’s basketball toward the end of the second half of Friday night’s matchup with Marquette, as the Golden Eagles began to pull away from what had been a back-and-forth game all night. Senior guard Stevie Mitchell cleaned up an airballed three-pointer from the corner that sent a handful of XFINITY Center fans to the exits.

But the Terrapins found a lifeline, knocking down a couple of huge threes and forcing a couple of turnovers that had them primed to make an improbable comeback.

The climax occurred when sophomore wing DeShawn Harris-Smith was fouled with a chance to bring the game back even. However, Harris-Smith missed both free throws, cutting the Terps’ comeback bid short with a 78-74 loss, their first of the 2024-25 season.

“[Harris-Smith]’ll make the next ones, I have confidence. He was out there for a reason,” head coach Kevin Willard said. “You don’t make every game-winning shot, you don’t make every game-winning play. You have to learn from it, get back in the gym, be a big boy.”

Despite the loss, it would probably stress any Terps fan to think about where the team might be without transfer guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie and freshman center Derik Queen.

Both starters finished with 24 points, while Queen added seven rebounds. Only four other Terrapins found the bottom of the cup, with none logging more than nine.

Marquette senior guard Kameron Jones was as-advertised, dropping 28 on 3-for-5 shooting from beyond the arc. Mitchell ended with 18 along with five boards.

In the designated “red-out” game, Maryland came out of the gate red-hot and had the XFINITY crowd rocking. The Golden Eagles settled in quickly on both ends of the floor though, and held a 10-6 lead at the first TV timeout.

From that point on, the half went back and forth, with no team holding more than a 4-point lead. Willard and Marquette head coach Shaka Smart only called one timeout each in the opening 20 minutes.

With 7:25 left, Willard subbed both Gillespie and Rice out of the game. After nearly two minutes without points, both guards’ numbers were called right back in, sparking a 7-0 Terrapin run that gave them the lead for the rest of the period.

“You see it on TV, but playing in it is actually crazy. I just wish it was a better result,” Gillespie said of the raucous atmosphere. “We’re definitely getting better as a team, just learning how to play off each other.”

The second half picked up where the first left off, with neither team able to truly secure any explosive momentum. A Marquette three-pointer by junior guard Chase Ross in the eighth minute gave the Golden Eagles their first lead since just under five minutes left in the first half, forcing a timeout by Willard.

Gillespie and Queen were the answer again, as were two big three-point buckets from Rice, his only points of the night.

Then came a response from Jones, who went on a 12-2 run by himself.

Punch, counterpunch. On a night where boxing legend Mike Tyson stepped back into the ring, Maryland and Marquette did their best impression of a 12-round bout for the title.

Down the stretch, Mitchell brought the Golden Eagles to the finish line with eight points in the last two minutes.

“The crowd was phenomenal. It kind of gave us a little bit of jitters on the offensive end. You have some guys, you have some transfers that haven’t played in an environment like this,” Willard said. “It’s good to kind of see how they react. It’s a learning experience, especially this early in the season.”

Officiating was an unfortunate theme in the game, with the majority of Maryland fans letting their displeasure be heard after the final buzzer. Willard playfully declined to comment on the subject in his postgame press conference.

The Terrapins have not defeated a non-conference ranked opponent at XFINITY Center since 2003, when they were members of the Atlantic Coast Conference and the building was called Comcast Center.

Maryland will look to bounce back in another home matchup against Canisius (0-3) on Tuesday at 7 p.m., their last of five straight home games to open the season.