‘They were the better team’: Wolverines trounced by Terrapins in the paint in rematch

Faculty Park, Md. — Somewhat over two minutes into Thursday’s regular-season rematch between Maryland and Michigan, Donald Carey corralled an offensive rebound, dribbled to the nook, and knocked down a second-chance 3-pointer for the Terrapins’ first bucket.

Roughly a minute later, Jahmir Younger obtained the ball after one other offensive rebound on the prime of the important thing, blew by a Michigan defender and scored on a runner within the lane. On Maryland’s subsequent possession, Hakim Hart obtained to the rim with little resistance and scored on a driving layup.

That just about set the tone for the remainder of the night time because the Terrapins trounced the Wolverines within the put up and avenged their blowout loss in Ann Arbor earlier this month by handing Michigan a 64-58 loss at Xfinity Heart.

“I feel the most important factor was we weren’t essentially the most bodily crew,” mentioned junior heart Hunter Dickinson, who completed with 19 factors and 10 rebounds. “They’d 15 offensive rebounds. You possibly can’t win a basketball sport with 42 paint factors and 15 offensive rebounds (allowed). That is the place the sport was gained.”

Freshman wing Jett Howard scored 13 and junior ahead Terrance Williams II added 9 factors and 13 rebounds for Michigan (10-8, 4-3 Massive Ten), which trailed for almost all of the sport and was slowed offensively by Maryland’s zone.

Younger scored 26 and Hart 10 for Maryland (12-6, 3-4), which outscored Michigan 42-22 within the paint, scored 18 of its 24 made subject targets on layups and dunks, and had greater than half of its 58 shot makes an attempt come on the basket.

BOX SCORE: Maryland 64, Michigan 58

After whittling a 13-point first-half deficit down to 2 by halftime, Michigan spent a lot of the second half chasing Maryland. Regardless of a gradual begin out of the break, the Wolverines managed to hold round and ultimately pulled even.

Michigan lower it to 2 factors twice on offensive tip-ins by Dickinson and Williams earlier than tying it twice. The primary time, Williams obtained unfastened in transition and scored on a layup to tie it at 42 with 12:01 left. A minute later, freshman heart Tarris Reed Jr. scored inside to knot it again up.

However the Terrapins regained management for good with a fast flurry. Hart buried a 3-pointer. Donta Scott flew in untouched for a putback dunk. Hart drove baseline and completed an uncontested reverse layup to make it 51-44 with 8:48 to play.

“Maintain them out the paint, have low man presence, work on our rotations, all that Coach (Juwan) Howard talked about, we did not try this as we speak,” Williams mentioned. “We did not comprise the ball.”

Added Dickinson: “They ran some performs that they did not run within the first sport. They made some changes to our pick-and-roll (coverages) and it gave us some bother.”

Michigan trailed the remainder of the best way. After a 3-pointer from grad switch wing Joey Baker trimmed the deficit to 53-49, Maryland continued to do injury within the paint and widened the margin. Younger fueled one other fast burst by getting downhill for a pair of driving layups to offer the Terrapins a 59-49 lead with 4:30 remaining.

The Wolverines made a late push to make it a four-point sport twice within the ultimate 40 seconds, the final time when two Dickinson free throws lower it to 62-58 with 5 seconds left. But it surely was too little, too late because the Terrapins made sufficient free throws within the ultimate minute to get their revenge and snap a five-game shedding streak within the collection.

“Maryland was essentially the most aggressive crew not simply within the second half, however all through the sport,” Michigan coach Juwan Howard mentioned. “If you happen to take a look at the quantity of factors that they scored within the paint after which the offensive rebounds, it is robust to win on any stage of play, whether or not it is AAU, highschool, faculty or NBA, while you permit a crew to have the ability to beat you up like that within the paint and be essentially the most aggressive crew. You are going to end up like we have been, combating and clawing on the finish.”

Not like the primary encounter when the Wolverines opened the sport on a 17-0 run, Michigan swapped locations with Maryland. This time round, Michigan stumbled out the gate, struggled to make pictures — lacking 10 of its first 13 makes an attempt — and fell into an early double-digit gap.

The Terrapins, in the meantime, discovered loads of success on the rim. Hart capped a string of eight unanswered factors by tipping a unfastened ball to himself and racing away for a fast-break dunk to offer Maryland a 17-6 lead with 10:29 left within the first half.

Reed snapped Maryland’s run by muscling his means inside for a two-handed jam, sparking a stretch the place Michigan made eight of 9 pictures. After a 3-pointer from Scott put Maryland up, 28-15, on the 6:32 mark, Michigan dialed it in from deep and chopped down the deficit with a 17-6 spurt.

Jett Howard, who picked up two fast fouls three seconds aside however stayed within the sport, drained a 3-pointer and Dickinson adopted with a dunk to chop the deficit to eight. Maryland answered with thunderous dunk of its personal earlier than Howard knocked down one other long-range shot. Williams and Dickinson each obtained in on the 3-point get together, combining for 3 deep balls down the stretch to make it a one-possession sport.

Williams buried one from the nook. Dickinson splashed two lengthy balls from straightaway within the ultimate 90 seconds, the second coming off a pick-and-pop that lower the deficit to 1, as Maryland took a 34-32 edge into the break.

“We knew they have been going to come back out with vitality, plenty of depth due to the best way we beat them the final time once they got here to Michigan (earlier this month),” mentioned Dickinson, the DMV native who misplaced to his hometown crew for the primary time in his Michigan profession.

“Whereas we anticipated it, we have been hoping that we’d come out and attempt to deliver that vitality. However credit score to them, they performed a hell of a ballgame. They did every little thing that we needed to do to them when it comes to dominating the paint and dominating the boards. They have been the higher crew on the market tonight.”

jhawkins@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @jamesbhawkins