Michigan basketball's comeback effort at Maryland falls short in 64-58 loss

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — It couldn't have been a better start for Michigan basketball's trio of DMV prospects.

Dug McDaniel, a Paul VI graduate, penetrated the lane and kicked it out to Terrance Williams II, a Gonzaga product, who tipped a touch-pass to former Dematha star Hunter Dickinson.

The 7-foot-1 center — who grew up 14 miles south of Xfinity Center — flipped in the left-handed hook and pumped up the crowd to a chorus of boos, as he ran back down the court.

But that was as good as the vibes got for the Wolverines all night long.

U-M went on two separate four-minute scoreless droughts in the first 10 minutes of the first half which allowed Jahmir Young and Maryland to get ahead by double digits and lead the rest of the way, avenging Michigan’s 35-point thumping in Ann Arbor on New Year's Day with a 64-58 victory in College Park on Thursday.

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Young, an AAU teammate with Michigan's trio (that also featured North Carolina star Armando Bacot), was the catalyst, getting to the rim at will. The senior scored a game-high 26 points on 9 of 19 shooting while Hakim Hart added 10 and Donta Scott had nine points and seven rebounds.

Dickinson led Michigan with 21 points and 10 rebounds, his sixth double-double of the year, while Jett Howard had 13 and kept Michigan (10-8, 4-3 Big Ten) in the game in the first half with a flurry of 3-pointers but missed his final six shots of the night, all of which were long balls.

Williams had his best night of the month (and perhaps of the season), scoring nine points and grabbing a game-high 13 rebounds (four offensive). McDaniel, a freshman from Washington D.C., struggled; he finished 2 of 10 from the floor with four points but had a team-high seven assists.

Drop down flip it and reverse it

The last time these teams met, Michigan was fresh off a players-only meeting following a home-loss to Central Michigan and came out with energy. The Wolverines jumped on Maryland 17-0 in that game and left little doubt the rest of the way.

The same was somewhat true in reverse on Thursday, only with the Terrapins on the other end. After a corner 3-pointer, Maryland got four consecutive buckets at the hoop, the last two of which were Young who took McDaniel to the rack for an 11-6 Terrapins lead.

Donta Scott hit two free throws, Caelum Swanton-Rodgers finished over Dickinson at the rim and Scott found Hakm Hart on the outlet pass who threw down the slam to cap an 8-0 run, make it 17-6 and force a Juwan Howard timeout.

At that point U-M was just 3 of 13 from the field and 0 of 5 from long range. To make matters worse, Howard picked up two fouls in three seconds with 11:14 left in the half but his coach and father, Juwan, broke his usual "auto-sit" rule with two fouls and kept him in.

It worked as the offense started to click. Tarris Reed threw down a dunk, Will Tschetter who'd just subbed in made a mid-range jumper and Howard hit a long ball from the wing on three straight possessions to get back within eight.

Maryland punched back with a quick 7-2 run to make it a 13-point game before the Wolverines closed the half on a 17-7 run. Howard hit another three, this time from the corner before Dickinson scored on a drop-step slam-dunk that seemed to get him going − though Swanton-Rodgers returned the favor on the ensuing trip down to make it 30-20 Maryland.

But Howard would make his third long ball of the half before xxx Reese made a left-handed bunny and put Maryland up 32-23. Of the Terps first 32 points, 22 came in the paint.

Williams hit a 3-pointer with 3:24 to play in the half before Dickinson hit one with 1:22 left and another with six seconds left in the half. Michigan made 10 of its final 13 shots from the floor while the Terrapins didn't score a bucket for the final 3:46 of the half to make it 34-32 at the break.

Maryland out-rebounded Michigan 20-15 in the first half, 10 of which came on the offensive end and led to 11 second-chance points.

Can't quite come back

Michigan came out flat to open the second half as the Terrapins grabbed two-more offensive rebounds on the first possession of the second half. While they didn't capitalize, it set the tone.

On their next possession, Young blew by Williams for the layup, then stripped Howard as he tried to get a shot up as the shot clock expired on the other end. He took the ball in transition, got to the rim and flipped a pass back to Scott who threw down the transition dunk for a 38-32 lead.

However for the second straight half, Michigan would weather the storm. After Maryland went up 40-34, Howard hit two free throws then Dickinson recorded a tip-in (the crowd was asking for a Williams travel call and shot clock violation on the possession, but got neither) before Williams had the best two-possession stretch of his season.

The Clinton, Maryland native (30 minutes south of College Park) recorded two offensive rebounds on one trip, the second of which he tipped in to cut the lead in to two. After a stop, Michigan got out on the break, Williams caught the pass and put the Maryland defender in the spin-cycle before his layup tied the score at 42 with 12:01 to play.

That's right when Maryland's offense got hot. The Terps would hit 6 of their next 7 shots − the highlights a flying put-back slam by Scott and a nice up-and-under move by Hart − but consecutive Joey Baker buckets, a left-handed layup and a 3-pointer, kept Michigan in striking range, 55-49.

Michigan's offense went silent the next 3:35, Maryland scored four straight, before a Dickinson long ball made it 59-52 with 4:05 to play.

Williams made a slashing layup and Dickinson had an offensive tip-in with 40 seconds to get within four, but Maryland would ice the game away at the free-throw line.

Maryland finished with the edge on points in the paint (42-22), via fast break (14-2) and off turnovers (9-7).

Contact Tony Garcia at apgarcia@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @realtonygarcia.

Next up: Golden Gophers

Matchup: Michigan (10-8, 4-3 Big Ten) vs. Minnesota (xxx).

Tipoff: 7 p.m. Thursday; Xfinity Center, College Park, Maryland.

TV/radio: ESPN; WWJ-AM (950).

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball's comeback effort at Maryland falls short, 64-58