BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The Maryland males’s basketball workforce had an opportunity at a breakthrough, a win that would have turned Saturday into one of many program’s biggest moments in 20 years. However that chance was swatted away by the lanky limbs of top-seeded Alabama’s defenders. Hope disappeared, little by little, because the Crimson Tide gamers took rebounds into their grasp, turning misses into success. And, ultimately, a victory was emphatically denied by the athletic our bodies that clogged the paint and left the Terrapins nowhere to go however house.
Maryland
No. 1 Alabama towers over the Terps, who go quietly in a 73-51 loss
On this NCAA event second-round matchup, the Crimson Tide was superior, as its general No. 1 seed suggests. And Maryland’s roster — missing the depth, athleticism and surefire NBA expertise of Alabama’s — crumbled down the stretch, letting a contest that stayed tight early flip right into a 73-51 defeat. With Alabama’s campus only a quick drive away, Legacy Enviornment roared because the Crimson Tide stormed away to finish the season of the eighth-seeded Terps.
Alabama (31-5) marches on to face No. 5 seed San Diego State in a regional semifinal Friday in Louisville. Maryland Coach Kevin Willard can solely flip towards his second season in School Park and hope that perhaps then his workforce can generate a event run that lasts longer than a weekend.
“It’s a superb first step,” he mentioned. “We have now much more steps that we have to take as a program, and we are going to get there.”
The Terps (22-13) had been undone by Julian Reese’s foul bother, which left them susceptible across the rim, and by an offense that would by no means determine an efficient approach to function in opposition to all that Alabama measurement. Maryland shot simply 35.2 p.c regardless of hardly trying photographs from deep. (The Terps had been 1 for 8 from three-point vary.) Maryland’s protection held agency for a lot of the sport, and that stored it from slipping out of attain. However as soon as the Crimson Tide’s benefit ballooned to double digits early within the second half, the sport snowballed towards an Alabama blowout.
Reese picked up his fourth foul with 12:12 to go. The sophomore performed simply 20 minutes, and the Terps had been much better with him than with out. Reese scored a team-high 14 factors, however his backups — Patrick Emilien, who performed for St. Francis of Brooklyn a 12 months in the past, and freshman Caelum Swanton-Rodger — couldn’t sustain with their Crimson Tide counterparts. Reese fouled out within the closing minutes, when a Maryland victory was already far out of attain.
Willard described Reese’s second foul — which he dedicated lower than three minutes into the sport when he received tousled with an Alabama participant after the Crimson Tide had secured a defensive rebound — as “a horrible name” that “modified the end result of the sport.”
He added: “It modified our entire recreation plan. We had been going to pound it inside, pound it inside.”
The Terps produced promising moments, notably on the defensive finish, however the Crimson Tide at all times answered. Think about a fast stretch across the time the sport started slipping away from the Terps: Hakim Hart grabbed a steal, and Maryland tried to show it into a simple basket. However Jahmir Younger’s jumper received batted away by Brandon Miller, who then hit a three-pointer in transition to offer Alabama its first double-digit lead with about quarter-hour remaining. From there, the Crimson Tide by no means wavered.
Jahvon Quinerly (22 factors) hit three-pointers on back-to-back possessions with beneath 4 minutes to go, making certain Alabama would end with a snug margin. And freshman phenom Brandon Miller supplied 19 factors and 7 rebounds earlier than the starters exited to an ovation from a crowd that felt like house.
Miller, the Crimson Tide’s finest participant, has confronted intense safety this season due to his hyperlink to the January capturing demise of a younger mom. A detective with the Tuscaloosa police division testified final month that Miller delivered a gun to a now-former teammate, who handed the weapon to a good friend, who shot and killed 23-year-old Jamea Jonae Harris. Miller has not been charged with a criminal offense, just isn’t thought-about a suspect and has cooperated with police, the college has mentioned. Miller’s lawyer has mentioned his 20-year-old consumer doesn’t personal a gun and “by no means touched” the weapon allegedly used within the killing.
That tragedy has loomed over Alabama, which on the courtroom seems the a part of a nationwide title contender. Miller, thought-about one of many nation’s prime gamers and an NBA lottery choose, didn’t rating in Alabama’s first-round win over Texas A&M Corpus Christi whereas taking part in restricted minutes due to a groin damage. He regarded totally wholesome in opposition to the Terps however shot 5 for 17.
Alabama leans on its size (three starters are at the least 6-foot-9), a high-scoring offensive assault (82.6 factors per recreation) and sound protection. The Crimson Tide performs quick and storms forward of the opposition with its tendency to shoot a excessive quantity of three-pointers. Maryland stifled the Crimson Tide early, however ultimately Alabama rolled on.
“They began taking part in how they needed to play,” Younger mentioned. “We didn’t actually gradual them down.”
After the Terps made 4 straight photographs to begin the sport, they sputtered. Reese picked up that second foul lower than three minutes in, then his third with 8:50 to go earlier than halftime. He didn’t play the remainder of the half.
Maryland made simply two of its subsequent 20 photographs, and the Terps had been bullied across the rim and couldn’t discover straightforward baskets. Maryland made it to halftime with a 28-23 deficit because of its glorious half-court protection and talent to gradual the tempo.
“I really feel like we did a superb job of competing on each ends,” Younger mentioned. “Actually simply combating, combating, combating them. It simply received away from us.”
Younger, a senior level guard, powered the Terps by way of a lot of their finest wins, however within the postseason, opposing defenses contained him. In Thursday’s first-round win over West Virginia, he had six turnovers, tying a profession excessive. He had a greater efficiency in opposition to Alabama, however his 12 factors to enrich Reese weren’t sufficient. No person else reached double digits.
With the loss, Willard’s first season in School Park reached its finish. He led the Terps to a number of marquee wins and an NCAA event berth, removed from a assure simply two months in the past.
“If you happen to had informed me I’d be taking part in within the second spherical, inheriting 5 guys on the roster,” Willard mentioned, “I’d have informed you you’re nuts.”
Maryland employed Willard hoping he would rejuvenate this system. Followers who had grown pissed off dreamed that the passable outcomes of the current previous would flip into distinctive performances and that early postseason exits would grow to be prolonged runs in March. Along with his ambition matching these expectations, Willard absolutely can be given a number of years as he works towards that breakthrough.
A win over the Crimson Tide would have been monumental; the Terps have reached the Candy 16 simply as soon as up to now 20 years. However the patchwork roster that Willard constructed shortly within the offseason wasn’t sufficient to match Alabama’s measurement, athleticism and depth.