Double-doubles from Reese, Young not enough for Maryland in loss to Rutgers

COLLEGE PARK — Basketball was played. Some history was made. But it was a night to forget as Maryland reached the nadir of its season in an ugly performance.

The Terrapins struggled to put together points in bunches, and not even double-doubles from both Jahmir Young and Julian Reese were enough as Maryland might have seen its faint NCAA Tournament chances burn up in a 56-53 loss to Rutgers on Tuesday night.

Down 52-43 with 2:54 remaining, Maryland began to mount a furious comeback. Young hit two free throws off a technical foul, Reese put in a layup, and Donta Scott hit two foul shots of his own after stealing the ball from Rutgers’ Mawot Mag. The Terrapins got to within a point at 54-53, but Mag made both shots after being fouled, and an off-balance three from Scott to tie in the final moments fell short.

“I’m a little perplexed that we would come out at home, and we have some older guys that just seemed — not that they weren’t ready to play, because again, defensively they gave great effort. It’s just offensively, we were so lackadaisical on the offensive end,” Maryland coach Kevin Willard said.

Maryland’s top 10 defense didn’t let the Scarlet Knights pull away, but inconsistent shooting doomed the Terrapins again. Their 31.5% shooting rate from the field was the third-worst of the season, and a paltry 11.1% showing from three was the worst in their 23 games. Of Maryland’s 10 losses, six have come when it has failed to score at least 60 points.

“We really struggled coming out starting the game, we didn’t have a whole lot of energy with that starting group that’s been really, really good for us,” Willard said. “You know, they were good defensively. But offensively, we don’t have the same sense of urgency on offense that we did on defense.”

Maryland is now 1-6 in one-possession games, the worst such mark in the Big Ten. The loss drops the Terrapins (13-10, 5-7 Big Ten) to 11th in the conference standings, yet still one game back in the win column from fourth. But with limited resume-building opportunities remaining — Saturday at Ohio State being one of them — Maryland will now need a miracle to make March Madness.

“Yeah, it was a lack of urgency all around, on the bench and from the starters,” Young said, “So that’s unacceptable with where we’re at in this season And what we have to do, so this is a tough one.”

Reese led all scorers with 19 points and 12 rebounds for his 11th double-double of the season. Young added 16 and 12, including a jumper in the paint 3:09 into the second half to give him his 1,000th point in a Maryland uniform. 

The Upper Marlboro, Maryland, native is only the fifth Terrapin to do so in just two seasons (56 games), becoming the third fastest to the millennium mark. Including his 1,421 points at Charlotte, he’s only the sixth Division I player since 2006 to record 1,000 or more points at two schools. 

“I mean, it’s great to be in the company with those guys, especially being the third-fastest,” Young said. “It just shows the hard work that I’ve put in, but it really cancels out with the L. So I’m not really worried about it. I’m just trying to figure out how we can win some games.”

Scott finished with eight points in his 137th start as a Terrapin, passing Steve Blake for the all-time Maryland record. Mag led Rutgers (4-7 Big Ten, 12-10 overall)  with 15 points, while Jeremiah Williams added 14 in only his second game after two years away due to injury and a gambling-related suspension.

A matchup between the two worst offenses in the Big Ten — Rutgers is last in points per game, shooting percentage and 3-point percentage, while Maryland is next-to-last in the same categories — didn’t exceed expectations, for lack of a better term.

The Scarlet Knights turned it over on their first two possessions but bounced back for the next six points as Maryland started 1-for-5 from the floor. Rutgers missed its next seven shots, though, and Maryland took a narrow 8-6 lead.

Things didn’t improve for the Terrapins. Rutgers scored the next nine points to take a 15-8 lead as Maryland missed five shots in a row, turning the ball over four times in that span. Both teams combined to commit 14 turnovers in the first 12 minutes en route to a total of 19 in the first 20 minutes.

With Rutgers as bad offensively as Maryland, it didn’t take much to get level. The Terrapins converted three foul shots, including the back end of a Reese and-one, and Young would make a three for a 16-15 lead. 

Maryland scored six of the final nine points of the half for a 24-22 lead at the break. The schools combined for a rough 16-of-55 shooting, including only two made threes in 18 tries.

The start of the second half was less sloppy, if still slow to ripen. Maryland held a brief two-point lead before the Knights made three straight from the floor, part of a 7-0 run that led to a 37-32 advantage.

Maryland closed it again with DeShawn Harris-Smith’s first basket, a layup with 10:22 to go to tie the game at 37.

The slow-as-a-literal-terrapin scoring pace continued from there, with Maryland going without a field goal for six-plus minutes late in the second half. Rutgers made four straight shots to take a 52-43 lead with less than 3 minutes to go, and fended off the frenetic Maryland late comeback attempt to hold on for the win.

“It’s frustrating, because you’ve got the sixth-best defense in the country,” Willard said, “and after tonight, who knows where we rank offensively, but it’s frustrating to be honest with you.”