Maryland men's basketball struggles again, barely survives in 73-67 win against Nicholls State
Dec. 19—By Edward Lee — edward.lee@baltsun.com
PUBLISHED:December 19, 2023 at 11:08 p.m.| UPDATED:December 20, 2023 at 12:53 a.m.
COLLEGE PARK — Few people could have blamed the Maryland men's basketball team for looking ahead to an upcoming trip to California before the Christmas weekend.
The problem was that the Terps still had to deal with a pesky Nicholls State.
Maryland slumbered through a lackadaisical first half and a significant portion of the second before overcoming a nine-point deficit in the period and persevering for a 73-67 victory over the Colonels Tuesday night before an announced 11,004 at Xfinity Center.
Fifth-year senior point guard Jahmir Young racked up 23 points, 11 rebounds and four assists, and fifth-year senior small forward Donta Scott added 15 points and seven rebounds to lift the Terps (7-4) to their third consecutive win, sixth in their past seven games, and 18th straight at home — a run that began Dec. 22, 2022, via a 75-45 victory over Saint Peter's. They are in sole possession of the fifth-longest streak among Division I programs after breaking a tie with No. 6 Marquette and No. 22 Virginia, both of which have won 17 straight home games.
Scott's performance was an encouraging sign as he had not scored more than seven points in each of his last four starts while shooting just 22.6% (7 of 31) over that span.
"I felt nothing but energy," said Scott, who played in the 140th game of his career and is one game shy of tying the school record for games played shared by both Juan Dixon (1998 to 2002) and Jake Layman (2012 to 2016). "I know that my team was down a little bit, not making shots that they normally make. I know that I had to be a leader, and I had to step up and try to get the guys together."
The last time Maryland fell at Xfinity Center occurred Dec. 14, 2022, in an 87-60 thumping by UCLA. The Terps will have a chance to return the favor when they visit the Bruins (5-4) — owners of the longest current home winning streak in the country at 29 games — at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles on Friday at 9 p.m. The Bruins also played Tuesday night, hosting Cal State Northridge.
The Terps leaned on their defense in the second half. After allowing the Colonels to convert 71.4% of their shots from 3-point range (5 of 7) in the first 20 minutes, Maryland limited them to 46.7% from deep (7 of 15) and 39.4% from the floor (13 of 33) in the second half.
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The Terps also blocked a season-high 13 shots. Junior power forward Julian Reese recorded a career-high six blocks to go with his
For a team that had not played since Dec. 9 because of final exams, the Colonels (5-6) did not appear rusty. They had some of those in attendance grumbling early in the second half by digging out of a 32-27 hole and embarking on a 16-2 run over a 3:47 stretch to grab a 43-34 advantage. By the time Reese converted a putback with 14:15 remaining, the Terps had gone 3:20 without a point.
Trailing 49-45 midway through the period, Maryland scored seven straight points capped by backup senior point guard Jahari Long's 3-pointer. After Nicholls State tied the score at 55 with 5:20 left, the Terps used a 7-2 spurt to take command and hold on for the victory.
"We've got to push through," Young said. "We know we've got games coming up. So it's no excuse for us to fall short or let a team come in here and get a win. We started off slow, but we were able to fight back."
Reese, a Randallstown native and St. Frances graduate, contributed nine points and 13 rebounds for Maryland. Senior small forward Jordan Geronimo scored nine points before fouling out late.
Maryland also avoided potential bad news. Starting shooting guard DeShawn Harris-Smith appeared to injure his right ankle in a collision with a Colonels player midway through the second half, but the 6-foot-5, 215-pound freshman returned inside the final two minutes.
Tuesday night's victory also improved coach Kevin Willard's career record to 299-227. Another win would make him and his dad, Ralph Willard, the third father-son coaching duo with at least one of the family members still active to compile 300 wins each, joining Baylor's Scott Drew (451 victories) and his dad, Homer (370), and Virginia's Tony Bennett (419) and his dad, Dick (316).
The game was a homecoming for Nicholls State coach and graduate Tevon Saddler, an Aberdeen native and St. Frances graduate who at 28 years old is the youngest current coach at the Division I level. He was the Terps' director of player personnel in Willard's first season as coach last winter before being hired away by the Colonels April 20. Saddler was The Baltimore Sun All-Metro boys basketball Player of the Year in 2013.
Willard singled out Saddler's preparation with his team.
"I think what we saw tonight was, Tevon had his team really ready to play, and I think you've got to give Tevon Saddler credit," he said. "They came in, they were well prepared, they had 10 days off to get ready. They ran some things we hadn't seen. I think this was more about Tevon and Nicholls more than it was about anything else."
Saddler wasn't the only Nicholls State individual with ties to the Baltimore area. Junior point guard Byron Ireland, an Annapolis resident, and junior small forward Jamal West Jr., a Baltimore resident, are also St. Frances graduates.
West compiled 14 points and a game-high 18 rebounds. Senior small forward Diante Smith paced the Colonels with 18 points, 12 rebounds and five assists, and senior shooting guard Jalen White scored all 15 of his points on 5 of 6 shooting from 3-point range.
Maryland opened the game by connecting on back-to-back 3-pointers by Young and Scott to assume a 6-2 lead. But the Colonels drained four consecutive shots in a 3:06 stretch to take a 13-11 advantage.
The Terps embarked on a 9-2 burst to command a 20-15 lead and maintained that five-point edge after Young grabbed an offensive rebound and drained the putback for a 25-20 lead with 4:41 to go in the first half.
But Maryland then slipped into a 4:35 drought that included eight straight missed shots from the floor. Nicholls State capitalized with seven points in a row before Scott nailed a 3-pointer from the left corner with six seconds left to send the Terps into halftime with a 28-27 edge.
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Maryland at UCLA
Friday, 9 p.m.
TV: ESPN2
Radio: 105.7 FM
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