No. 21 Maryland men’s basketball falls to Ohio State, 73-62

In his final home game, Justice Sueing looked to put on a show one last time. 

He remained alert and snatched an offensive rebound off a long three at the end of the shot clock. He reset Ohio State’s offense and the ball fell back into his hands so he uncorked another shot from deep. 

He connected this time, receiving a friendly roll to put the Buckeyes up by 15.

No. 21 Maryland men’s basketball (20-10, 11-8 Big Ten) was unable to spoil Ohio State’s senior night and the Buckeyes (13-17, 5-14 Big Ten) — fueled by the performance of their seniors and freshmen — defeated the Terps, 73-62.

“I thought we had a pretty good practice yesterday,” coach Kevin Willard said. “We just looked very lethargic, which just hasn’t been this team. This is kind of disappointing.”

Six different Buckeyes reached double figures in the win, but it was Sueing with a team-high 16 points. Freshman center Felix Okpara also notched his best game of the season with 12 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks.

For Maryland, sophomore forward Julian Reese recorded a double-double for the fourth-straight game. He tallied 17 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks. Senior guard Don Carey chipped in 14 points and three threes.

In the opening five minutes, the Buckeyes looked like a different team than the one they had been of late. Sueing and graduate student guard Sean McNeil each knocked down 3-pointers to spark a 12-0 run before Willard called a timeout. 

“We kept talking in timeouts, throw it inside, Willard said.” “We were running pick-and-rolls to get [Reese] good deep post position. Three times he was there and we just don’t throw it to him. We drive baseline, we turn it over, we drive baseline and shoot a ridiculous shot.”

Shortly after, Willard was called for a technical foul on a play that was awarded in the Terps favor. The call seemed to fluster Maryland as it turned the ball over on the next possession. 

Maryland has been protecting the rock recently as over its last nine games, averaging just 7.7 turnovers a game. However, in the first 10 minutes, the Terps had already tallied five miscues. 

Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann decided to start his three seniors for its senior night with freshman forward Brice Sensabaugh, the Buckeyes’ leading scorer, coming off the bench. But when Sensabaugh was subbed in, he quickly picked up two fouls and promptly subbed out.

Instead, it was graduate student guard Isaac Likekele carrying the offensive load. At the 7:05 mark, he converted an and-one to give the Buckeyes a 10-point lead. 

Three minutes later, Maryland briefly cut the lead to four with a sneaky 6-0 run. But Sensabaugh was subbed back in and made an immediate impact on the offensive end. 

Maryland went to the locker room trailing 35-29. 

“I knew this was going to be tough,” Willard said. “They came in, they played really well against Illinois. Their small lineup, Likekele really hurt us in the first half. 

McNeil and Likekele combined for 19 points and were both a perfect 7-7 shooting from the floor in the first half. Reese led Maryland, on pace for his fourth-straight double-double with eight points and six boards.

The Terps received no offensive production from their bench in the first half and turned the ball over seven times. 

To start the second half, senior forward Donta Scott set a hard screen on Likekele, and Likekele briefly left the court before sitting on the bench. But the Terps were unable to spark a run, and four minutes found themselves down 13. 

Maryland needed someone to step up and sophomore guard Ian Martinez answered. He scored eight points in under three minutes to cut the Terps’ deficit to single digits with 12 minutes remaining. 

But Okpara kept the Buckeyes going with his scoring, rebounding and blocking. With eight minutes remaining, he recorded his second double-double of the season. 

“We could never really get into that flow,” Willard said. “Every time we got a stop we gave them an offensive rebound. I thought we had a ten second call, we don’t dive on the floor, they get a dunk. We just never could put two or three stops with two or three good offensive possessions together.” 

Carey converted a four-point play to cut the lead to double digits yet again. Maryland rallied late with an 8-0 run but the last-ditch effort to cut the lead for Maryland failed, as it fell to the Buckeyes by 11. 

Maryland will finish the regular season on the road against Penn State on Sunday, hoping for a better result.