Maryland men’s basketball flounders against Wisconsin in Big Ten Tournament, 87-56

The Badgers were draining nonstop 3-pointers in Minneapolis from the opening tip in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament. A Maryland men’s basketball team that just played a game 20 hours earlier didn’t have the legs to keep up with Wisconsin’s hot shooting.

The Terps were eliminated from the Big Ten Tournament, falling to the Badgers, 87-56, in the second round on Thursday.

Maryland needed a miracle run in the Big Ten Tournament to get back to the NCAA Tournament with hopes of an at-large bid non-existent. That required winning five games in five days, and the Terps’ performance on Thursday showed just how difficult that is.

Maryland looked slow-footed defensively. Half-hearted closeouts and lazy rotations led to constant open looks from the perimeter for Wisconsin, who made the Terps pay. 

Wisconsin buried its first six 3-point attempts and never fully cooled off, finishing the game 16-for-25 from the perimeter. 

“They made a couple shots early and they got going and give them credit – they just kept going,” coach Kevin Willard said.

Maryland typically does a great job taking away the 3-point shot — the Terps allow just 5.1 per game, the fewest of any power conference team in the country. But they don’t make many themselves, so when their opponent buries that many threes, it’s virtually impossible for them to win.

Maryland never got within single digits after Wisconsin went up by 10 points with 12:09 remaining in the first half. The Badgers led 47-26 at the break behind 10 threes. They connected on six more looks in the second half to stretch their lead as large as 42 en route to a dominant victory.

Four Badgers scored in double figures, led by John Blackwell’s 18.

Playing games on consecutive days only became more difficult for Willard when Jahari Long went down with a knee injury on Wednesday. The Terps’ already-thin depth was tested without Long, who averages 18.5 minutes per game.

Maryland’s bench scored just five points, while Wisconsin got 37 from its second unit.

Jahmir Young didn’t get the ending he hoped for, but his last collegiate game was nothing short of productive in spite of the result. The first team All-Big Ten guard led the Terps with 18 points on 8-of-15 shooting.

Young’s performance was representative of how Maryland’s season went. No matter how good he was, it often wasn’t enough. 

“There’s a lot of emotions, especially this game, just knowing it was our last one.” Young said. “… The game was getting away from us and me and [Donta Scott] just embracing our last time in a Maryland uniform.”

DeShawn Harris-Smith chipped in 16 points, but all of them came in the second half with the result all but certain. Scott struggled in his final collegiate game, scoring just four points on 1-of-4 shooting.

With Maryland unlikely to receive even an NIT invite, the Terps (16-17) will likely finish with a losing record for the second time in the last three seasons.

After a successful first year under Willard, there were high hopes in College Park for the 2023-24 season. But momentum never really materialized for Maryland. The Terps concluded a disappointing campaign in ugly fashion on Thursday.

“We’ll retool our roster and we’ll be back next year,” Willard said.