COLLEGE PARK — For Mark Turgeon, there is a certain comfort in watching his team needle opponents until they have no answers for his pressing defense. Lately, that feeling has been fleeting and it appeared as if that was going to continue to elude Maryland’s coach a bit longer.
Yet at the right time — and just for long enough — Maryland made the stops Turgeon is used to seeing. That comfort returned when Rasheed Sulaimon perfectly position himself to take a charge with 18 seconds remaining in a three-point game, drawing the type of offensive foul that had Michigan coach John Beilein fuming.
That comfort culminated when Jaylen Brantley stole the ball from Zak Irvin to secure Maryland’s 86-82 win against Michigan on Sunday at Xfinity Center, a relieving victory following an inexplicable loss to Minnesota just four days earlier.
For a while, Michigan seemed to have Maryland figured out. The Wolverines shot their way out of a 16-point deficit to close within five by the end of the first half, as the Terrapins clung to a 41-35 lead. In the second half, Michigan bullied its way into to the paint. Wolverines forward Mark Donnal scored 22 of his game-high 25 points, making nine of his 11 field-goal attempts.
Still, the Terrapins did just enough to outlast the Wolverines and stabilize their season after losses to Wisconsin and Minnesota last week.
“It’s great to win and great to play well,” Turgeon said. “You lose two in a row and it felt like two months. I was really proud of our team.
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“We wanted to get back to being us, who we are, and that’s what we talked about. Were we desperate? I don’t think so, but we were dialed in.”
One of the differences on Sunday was the boost Maryland got from its bench in Brantley, Jared Nickens and Damonte Dodd, who combined to score 18 points. It was their defensive efforts, particularly Dodd’s, that gave the Terrapins an edge when they needed it.
Dodd had what Turgeon called the “best defensive game of his career” against Minnesota, when he blocked six shots, a lone bright spot in the team’s forgettable performance against the Golden Gophers.
In the first half against Michigan, Dodd blocked a pair of shots within a minute. He gave the Terrapins the toughness they needed in the paint. With the Wolverines challenged to get the rim, they struggled to make their 3-pointers and the foundation was set for Maryland’s 14-0 run.
“I just try to be a rim protector for the team,” Dodd said. “I think the team feels very secure when I’m back there. I just try to be that presence. Me being back there, the guards just feel comfortable that if they get beat, I’m going to come and make up for it. It makes me feel good that I can be that relief for my team.”
Security can be fleeting this late in the season, especially after a week filled with back-to-back losses. After the loss to Wisconsin, Turgeon vowed not to show his team any film. There was nothing to gain, he felt, from a game in which the Terrapins were buried by a poor 10-minute stretch in the first half.
Turgeon reminded his team that they were 22-4. He had to remind them again on Thursday, after a loss to Minnesota — which had not won a Big Ten game until it stunned the Terrapins — that they were 22-5, which was still pretty good. He also met with each player individually to remind them to believe in themselves.
Reminding a team of what it’s supposed to be only goes so far before it starts taking its toll.
“I was as down as you can be [after the Minnesota loss],” Turgeon said. “I didn’t eat a lot of food since that game. I can’t wait to eat.”
Sunday’s win was not pretty, but it was enough to satiate Maryland’s appetite — at least for now. There are six days between the victory and Maryland’s next game on Saturday at Purdue, where the Terrapins hope to continue moving forward.
After the victory against Michigan, the Terrapins sounded the same tone they have following the past two games. The only difference was that they had the result to match it.
“We’re fine,” said forward Robert Carter Jr., who led Maryland with 17 points. “We have a lot of confidence in each other. We just need to continue trusting the process. It’s a long season, we’re just taking it one game at a time. Every game is important for us to win, but we just got it done. We played well as a team tonight. We shared the ball. We got stops when we needed to. It was a huge win for us.”
• Anthony Gulizia can be reached at agulizia@washingtontimes.com.
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