After a missed free throw with less than 10 seconds left, Jahmir Young dribbled the ball up the floor with a chance to tie the game for No. 13 Maryland men’s basketball.
He wiggled at the top of the key before slicing into the lane, where he put up a floater with no one guarding him. Young put just too much on the shot, as the ball clinked off the back of the rim and the Terps’ hopes for a miraculous win ended.
Despite outscoring No. 7 Tennessee by 14 in the second half, the Terps’ 17 point halftime deficit was too much to overcome. Tennessee defeated Maryland 56-53 in the Basketball Hall of Fame Invitational, dropping the Terps’ record to 7-2 on the season.
Young was the game’s leading scorer, putting up 18 points and seven assists as he was a big part of Maryland’s second half push. But sophomore guard Zakai Zeigler was the difference for Tennessee, making a clutch three with three minutes left, part of his 12 points that led the Volunteers to victory.
Maryland could’ve won the game had it not been for its anemic three-point shooting. The Terps shot 8.3% from three, going 2 for 24 from behind the arc. Tennessee didn’t have a spectacular shooting night from three, but the Volunteers attempted less and made more, going 7-21 on the night.
The Volunteers had a clear size advantage over Maryland, and that definitely showed up on the box score. Tennessee out-rebounded the Terps 48-40, and more impressively out offensive-rebounded the Terps 21-8.
“We knew how big they were, we knew how athletic they were, but we just let them push us around a little too much,” coach Kevin Willard said.
The first five minutes were a nightmare on offense for both teams, as each team made only one shot. Maryland got into foul trouble early, as both senior forward Donta Scott and sophomore forward Julian Reese picked up two fouls in the first six minutes of the game.
The rhythm was just not there for Maryland to start the first half, and it was mostly because of inaccuracy on perimeter shots. 10 of Maryland’s first 15 shot attempts were from three-point range, but the Terps only managed to make one of their first ten threes.
It wasn’t like they weren’t getting open looks, but players like Scott and Young couldn’t find a rhythm, combining to shoot 1-9 from three in the first period.
Meanwhile, even though Tennessee only shot 28.2% from the field in the first half, it just had a lot more looks because of its strong defense. Maryland had 15 less shot attempts than Tennessee in the half, making it hard for Maryland to cut into the deficit.
The Volunteers absolutely swarmed the Terps at points in the first half, as Maryland didn’t score from the field for more than nine minutes at one point. Tennessee has the second-best field goal percentage defense in the country, limiting opponents to 32.7% shooting on the season, and that showed up in the first 30 minutes.
With a nice 6-0 run toward the end of the first period, Tennessee went into halftime up 34-17. Senior guard Santiago Vescovi led all scorers with seven points.
The Terps came out of the break with a 4-0 run with buckets by Scott and Young. But Tennessee responded with a cutting layup from senior forward Olivier Nkamhoua, which silenced the crowd and brought its lead back to 15 at 36-21.
But almost immediately after this, Maryland went on a big run to get them back into the game. The Terps started to drive into the paint more after their woes from the perimeter, and they went on a 10-0 run with a few buckets from Scott inside. Just like that, the Terps were only down 45-41.
Whenever Maryland needed to make an extra stop from that point on, the Volunteers came up with a clutch three to stop the momentum. Graduate student guard Tyreke Key, sophomore guard Jahmai Mashack and Zeigler all hit threes down the stretch in the fourth quarter to preserve the lead.
The Terps tried to push for a comeback in the final minutes, but they could not make a single three in the last few minutes of the fourth, resulting in a tough loss to the Volunteers. Now on a two-game losing streak, Willard believes some time away from the road could help the team get back on track.
“Really over the last week and a half I haven’t seen us as sharp as we were early just because we’re not getting nearly enough practice time,” Willard said.
