Gophers men’s losing streak reaches 11 with loss at Maryland

Maryland is not one of the best staff within the Massive Ten, but it surely has the convention’s greatest dwelling document, together with a win vs. No. 1 Purdue by double figures this season.

That dominance at dwelling by the Terrapins additionally applies when taking part in the Gophers. They gained by 35 factors in Minneapolis earlier within the month, one of many worst dwelling losses in U historical past.

The Minnesota-Maryland sequence has been removed from aggressive going again seven years. That didn’t change Wednesday night time with the Gophers dropping their ninth straight sport vs. Maryland and eleventh consecutive sport this season in an 88-70 loss in entrance of an introduced 14,263 at Xfinity Middle.

“It wasn’t about offense,” Gophers coach Ben Johnson mentioned on the postgame radio present. “We simply struggled to defend, particularly after these scrappy [first] 10 minutes that we had. They received what they needed, whether or not it was on the rim or from three.”

The chances that the Gophers (7-19, 1-15 Massive Ten) can choose up a second convention win this season within the last stretch are slim if they’ve repeat performances defensively like Wednesday night time.

The Terrapins (19-9, 10-7) shot 68% within the sport, one of the best field-goal capturing for a Minnesota opponent in additional than a decade. Maryland trailed early however grabbed management with a 25-4 run within the first half. Julian Reese and Hakim Hart led 5 gamers in double figures with 21 and 20 factors, respectively.

Freshman Pharrel Payne led the Gophers with 17 factors off the bench. In his third sport again from damage, Dawson Garcia had 15 factors. Freshman Jaden Henley scored 10 of his 14 factors within the first half, however a powerful offensive effort for 2 youthful gamers did not overshadow how poorly your complete staff guarded.

Payne’s dunk gave the Gophers their final lead at 19-18. A few minutes later, the Terrapins went on a 15-0 run by aggressively attacking the rim with little resistance. Donta Scott, who had 14 of his 18 factors within the first half, muscled in a layup with slightly below two minutes left to present Maryland a 45-24 lead.

“The staff we had been for the primary 10 minutes, we received to bottle that up,” Johnson mentioned of the 13-8 result in begin the sport. “I really imagine that is who we’re. We will not give in. We’ve got to have the ability to reply.”

The 6-11 Garcia did not play towards the Terrapins in his staff’s abysmal 81-46 Feb. 4 loss, however his inside presence Wednesday did not make a lot of a distinction defending the rim. He was additionally held to simply two factors within the second half.

Coming off his season-high 31 factors in Monday’s 78-69 loss at Illinois, Jamison Battle managed solely eight factors at Maryland, which included going scoreless within the first half. The Terrapins realized their lesson after permitting Battle to blow up for his career-high 39 factors in School Park final season.

To open the second half Wednesday, Battle scored his first basket with a three-pointer to chop it to a 14-point deficit. However Donald Carey had eight factors throughout a 10-2 run to make it 57-35.

The Terrapins had been the second-worst three-point capturing staff within the Massive Ten getting into the night time forward of solely the Gophers, however they completed 7-for-13. That outdoors capturing allowed them to have success near the basket, going 12-for-19 on layups and scoring 40 factors within the paint, together with 5 dunks.

Trailing by 27 factors late within the second half, Payne powered his strategy to an emphatic dunk, however he quickly took a seat for good after fouling out.

The Gophers performed 4 freshmen, together with Henley, Joshua Ola-Joseph and Braeden Carrington. They by no means gave up making an attempt to attain late however had been usually misplaced on protection taking part in for the primary time at Maryland towards a veteran squad.

Up subsequent is Nebraska on Saturday, the identical staff that defeated the Gophers 81-79 in time beyond regulation Jan. 7 on the Barn.

The Star Tribune didn’t ship the author of this text to the sport. This was written utilizing a broadcast, interviews and different materials.