Following one of the more stunning losses in school history, No. 16 Maryland must pull itself together quickly for Saturday’s Big Ten matchup with Penn State in University Park, Pa.
The Terrapins (21-7, 11-6 Big Ten) had won eight of their last nine games before Wednesday’s crushing 58-55 loss to Michigan State – when the Spartans’ Tre Holloman swished a 3-pointer at the buzzer from just beyond half court.
In fact, Maryland’s seven losses all have been tight setbacks. The Terps’ largest margin of defeat this season is only six points as the team appears destined for a high NCAA Tournament seed.
While Holloman’s buzzer-beater got all the headlines, the reality for Maryland was that it shot poorly from the field (31.3 percent) and the 3-point line (4-of-20) against the Spartans. Rodney Rice (20 points), Ja’Kobi Gillespie (15) and Derik Queen (10) accounted for 45 of the squad’s 55 points while nobody on the bench scored in limited minutes.
“I know we don’t have any bench points, but there’s just not a whole lot of shots to go around with those first five (starters),” coach Kevin Willard said. “Those first five are all guys that can score, so there’s no one on that starting five that I’m not going to tell to shoot. So, I don’t know where the shots are going to come from.”
Despite the loss, Willard wasn’t about to hang his head. After all, there is no time for sulking in March.
“I’m extremely proud of how these guys fought all night and all year. They’ve gotten better,” Willard said. “We’ll go back, watch the film, see where we need to get better and what adjustments we need to make. … That’s life in conference play — you don’t have much time to really feel sorry for yourselves.”
Penn State (15-14, 5-13) is in a similar boat, having absorbed a tough defeat on Wednesday. The Nittany Lions didn’t lose on a buzzer-beater, but they did hold a halftime lead at Indiana and a two-point edge with six minutes to go before coming up short, 83-78.
Ace Baldwin Jr. led the way with 22 points and six steals, while Yanic Konan Niederhauser chipped in with 16 points and seven boards.
“We’ve had a lot of struggles, but our guys keep showing up and working,” Penn State coach Mike Rhoades said of his team, which shot 52.9 percent from the floor but allowed Indiana to shoot 56.9 percent.
The Nittany Lions are in danger of missing out on the Big Ten tournament. In the current format, 15 of the 18 teams in the league will qualify for the conference’s postseason event. Penn State sits in 17th place with two games remaining and probably needs to beat Maryland and No. 11 Wisconsin to have a realistic chance to move into the top 15.
“I think that’s horse (poop), to be honest with you,” Rhoades said. “Everybody bangs their chest about student-athlete experience, and we’re in the Big Ten, and we’re keeping three teams out of it?”
Maryland and Penn State split a pair of meetings last season. This serves as the only regular-season matchup between the teams in 2024-25.
–Field Level Media
