Maryland men's basketball fades in 83-79 loss at No. 9 Oregon

Maryland men’s basketball’s first West Coast trip of the season is fortunately its last.

The Terps wrapped up a disappointing visit to the Pacific Northwest by squandering a double-digit advantage in the first half and then a smaller lead at halftime to No. 9 Oregon, which proved why it belongs in the national conversation of top-tier teams by forging an 83-79 victory Sunday evening before an announced 7,427 at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene, Ore.

Sophomore shooting guard Rodney Rice compiled 19 points, four assists and three rebounds, freshman center Derik Queen accrued 17 points and five rebounds, and junior point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie had 16 points, two rebounds and two assists.

But their efforts weren’t enough for Maryland (11-4, 1-3 Big Ten), which left the Pacific time zone with back-to-back setbacks after getting surprised by Washington, 75-69, on Thursday night. Throwing in an 83-78 loss at then-No. 8 Purdue on Dec. 8, the team has dropped its last three games against league competition.

The Terps had been on the cusp of making its first appearance in The Associated Press Top 25 poll as the leading team receiving votes. Now they will have to prove their case once again when they welcome No. 15 UCLA (11-3, 2-1) to Xfinity Center in College Park, Md., on Friday at 8 p.m. ET.

Ducks sophomore point guard Jackson Shelstad led all scorers with a game-high 23 points on 8-of-10 shooting (5 of 5 from 3-point distance) and grabbed five rebounds, and senior center Nate Bittle chipped in 16 points, six rebounds and two blocks. Senior point guard Keeshawn Barthelemy came off the bench to add 14 points, five assists and four rebounds, and redshirt senior shooting guard Jadrian Tracey and sophomore power forward Kwame Evans Jr., a Baltimore resident, each scored 10 points to help Oregon (13-2, 2-2) bounce back from Thursday night’s 109-77 thumping by No. 22 Illinois and win four of its last five games.

Here are three observations from Sunday evening’s loss:

Maryland’s struggles in the second half against premier opponents are alarming

For the second game in a row, the Terps were outclassed in the final 20 minutes.

Armed with a 33-30 lead at halftime Thursday against the Huskies, Maryland was outscored 45-36 in the last frame. The offense’s shooting efficiency dropped from 48.1% in the first half to 41.9% in the second, and the unit whiffed on all six attempts from 3-point range in that period.

It was more of the same against Oregon. Owning a 45-42 lead on Sunday, the Terps got a dunk from senior power forward Julian Reese 26 seconds into the frame, but then helplessly watched the Ducks reel off 14 consecutive points and a 16-3 run to assume a 58-50 advantage.

Maryland rallied and eventually took a 74-72 lead with 4:53 remaining. But Oregon outscored the Terps, 11-5, the rest of the way to prevent an upset.

All four of Maryland’s losses have occurred despite the team leading at halftime. It was up on then-No. 15 Marquette, 34-30, before absorbing a 78-74 setback on Nov. 15 and led Purdue, 36-31, before crumbling.

Coach Kevin Willard revealed something he has noticed about the players he has sent out to open the second half.

“I’m looking at that starting lineup, and they really start games really well,” he told the team’s radio broadcast crew. “What I’m kind of noticing is, when we come out at halftime, that group is really struggling, and I think the bench has really been good. I have a lot of confidence in those guys. Going out in the second half, we just need a little bit more energy to kind of continue what we do to start the games. The start of second halves have been absolutely brutal, and we’ve just got to do a better job with those.”

Sunday’s outcome might have been particularly frustrating because the Terps had built a 13-point advantage at 30-17 midway through the first half before Oregon mounted a comeback. And when the tables were turned, Maryland could not do the same.

The defense needs to go back to the drawing board

During coach Kevin Willard’s three-year tenure, defense has been Maryland’s forte. That unit has shined against lesser competition, but not against more prolific offenses.

The Terps are now 1-4 when their opponents score at least 75 points. In their four setbacks, they have surrendered 78 points to Marquette, 83 to Purdue, 75 to Washington and now 83 to Oregon.

And those four opponents have lodged four of the five top shooting performances against Maryland. The Ducks converted 51.8% (29 of 56) of its shots, the Boilermakers 48.5% (32 of 66), the Huskies 45.6% (26 of 57), and the Golden Eagles 44.8% (26 of 58).

Oregon drained 12 3-pointers, marking a season high given up by the Terps. The Ducks were especially accurate from long distance in the second half when they connected on 6 of 11 attempts as they appeared to capitalize against a Maryland defense that was sagging to concentrate on Bittle.

The team’s improved showing on offense might have disguised some of the defense’s troubles, but not to Willard.

“I feel like we’ve gotten our rhythm back offensively,” he said. “I thought we really struggled against Washington, and I thought tonight, our pace was much better. We had 11 assists and four turnovers in the first half. Give them credit for the second half. They went to a little bit of a matchup zone and got us standing a little bit. But I thought Rodney got his rhythm back, and Derik played much more aggressive, which I like. So I thought offensively, we got some good rhythm. We have to just get back and spend three days of good practice back in College Park and get our defense back to where it needs to be.”

The Terps had entered Sunday’s game ranked second in the Big Ten in fewest points allowed at 62.1 per game. They must rediscover the defense that has made them very difficult for opponents to decipher.

Home probably never looked so good to Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Derik Queen

Three days after turning in their worst individual performances of the season, Gillespie and Queen redeemed themselves — but also made pivotal gaffes in the end.

Gillespie, who managed only one point on 0 of 6 shooting and had more turnovers (three) than assists (two) and rebounds (zero) in Thursday’s loss at Washington, tied Rice for team-high honors in 3-pointers (three) and scored 11 of his points in the second half. Queen, who finished with four points on 1-of-7 shooting and more turnovers (two) than rebounds (one) and blocks (one) against Washington, accumulated nine of his points in the first half and was more of a defensive presence with two blocks and two steals.

But with Oregon clinging to a 79-76 lead with about two minutes left in the game, Gillespie missed a 3-pointer from the left wing, and Bittle turned a foul after an offensive rebound into a pair of free throws. Gillespie then missed the first of two free throws and then was short on a jumper just outside of the lane.

And after grabbing a defensive rebound and seeming about to fall out of bounds with 14 seconds remaining, Queen appeared to call a timeout, but the Terps no longer had any. That drew a technical foul that Shelstad converted into a pair of free throws for a 6-point lead that contributed to the final score.

Rather than cast blame on any individual players, Willard pointed out the importance of Bittle’s offensive rebound that enabled the Ducks to inflate a 3-point lead into a 5-point gap with 91 seconds to go and Evans Jr.’s offensive rebound and putback that turned a 71-70 deficit into a 72-71 lead with 5:15 remaining.

“We have to come up with rebounds late in the games,” he said. “That’s two games in a row. Especially on the road, you’re not going to get a foul call, you’re not going to get a push-in-the-back [call]. We got them to take two bad shots, and yet — you have to give them credit — they got two huge offensive rebounds. That was really the difference in the game.”

The showings by Gillespie and Queen are encouraging signs that their efforts against the Huskies suggest they were more anomalies than anything else. But if Maryland harbors some hope of making waves in the Big Ten and qualifying for a berth in the NCAA Tournament, the team is going to need every player at their most effective, especially two of their most productive players.

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