Maryland 64, UW 60: A gritty performance isn't enough after a frigid first half
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Greg Gard’s players played arguably their best half of the season in the final 20 minutes against Maryland Monday night at the Xfinity Center.
Unfortunately for UW, that came after a first-half performance that might have been the Badgers’ worst of the season.
In the end, Maryland came away with a 64-60 victory because guard Anthony Cowan hit a huge three-pointer with 44.9 seconds left and UW missed its final three attempts – one by Brad Davison and two by Nate Reuvers.
"It (was) a perfect example of how not to and how to," Gard said in discussing the disparity of his team's execution from the first half to the second. "When we get completely to the how-to side for 40 minutes we’ve got a chance to be a pretty good team.
"Until then we’ll continue to learn some hard lessons."
The Terrapins, who look good enough to challenge for the league title, built an 18-point halftime lead, led by 21 early in the second half, saw UW take a 60-59 lead on Davison's three-pointer with 2 minutes 2 seconds left but then prevailed thanks to the play of Cowans, who hit 11 of 13 free throws and finished with 21 points.
BOX SCORE: Maryland 64, Wisconsin 60
The grit the Badgers displayed in the second half was commendable but the bottom line is that they continued their fall in the league standings by losing for the third time in four conference games.
UW (11-6, 3-3) fell three games behind league leaders Michigan (17-0) and Michigan State (15-2). The Wolverines, ranked No. 2 in both major polls, visit the Kohl Center at 11 a.m. Saturday.
Maryland (15-3, 6-1) is surging in the opposite direction. The Terrapins have won six consecutive games, a streak that included victories over then-No. 24 Nebraska and then-No. 22 Indiana.
"Every loss stings," Davison said. "The start of the game is what stings. It is kind of a theme the past couple of games.
"Getting down early and then fighting and crawling and scrapping to get back – making it hard on ourselves.
"In the first half, our offense was very stagnant. We had to take a lot of tough shots late in the shot clock that we didn’t have to do in the second half. We had a lot better ball movement."
UW hit 0 of 8 three-pointers and 7 of 26 shots overall in the first half in falling behind, 33-15.
The Badgers hit 11 of 22 three-pointers and 16 of 34 shots overall in the second half.
"I thought the execution was as good as it has been in a while," Gard said of the second half. "I thought we really moved the ball. We shared it. We got it to the right people.
"Obviously, it helps when you make shots. But shots usually go in because of good execution. It’s not by accident.
"I thought we had a lot of guys that did some very good things."
Reuvers hit 4 of 8 three-pointers and 7 of 13 shots overall and finished with 18 points, all in the second half, to lead UW.
D'Mitrik Trice hit just 5 of 14 shots but added 13 points, five assists and four rebounds and had just one turnover.
Davison hit just 2 of 6 three-pointers and added 11 points and four. Ethan Happ added 10 points and eight rebounds for UW.
Eric Ayala and Jalen Smith scored 11 points apiece for Maryland and Bruno Fernando added 10.
Led by Cowan, Maryland hit 24 of 29 free throws. UW hit just 3 of 6 attempts.
"I thought we could have drawn some more fouls," Gard said.
When Happ committed his fourth foul with 10:38 and took a seat, the deficit was 51-33. Reuvers scored six points to key an 8-0 run in a span of 1:34 to help UW pull within 51-41.
Maryland called a timeout with 8:02 left. The Badgers kept coming and finally got back to even at 57-57 on a three-pointer by Reuvers with 3:11 left.
Cowan was fouled and hit two free throws with 2:47 left. UW came right back with a three-pointer from Davison and UW had a lead, 60-59 with 2:02 left.
Cowan missed on a drive but Davison missed a step-back three-pointer from the left wing.
"That is a shot I know I can make," said Davison, who said he got the ball with about six seconds left on the shot clock. "A step-back is a shot that I make a high percentage of the time.
"So that is the shot that I go to, a shot that I’m looking for. And a shot that I thought was going in."
Cowan shot again, this time a three-pointer over Trice, and buried the shot for a 62-60 lead Maryland lead with 44.9 seconds left.
"We know Cowan is really fast and quick and he is getting to the free-throw line a lot," Trice said. "So in my mind I (wanted) to give him enough space to where I can contain the dribble but as well as contest the shot. He hit a deep three that was contested. Shout-out to him because that is a tough shot to make."
Cowan was 1 of 5 from three-point range when he shot over Trice.
"Those are the ones he makes," Maryland coach Mark Turgeon said. "He is terrific."
UW took a timeout with 40.3 seconds left. The Badgers ran a gorgeous play to get Reuvers an open three but he missed.
Maryland's Darryl Morsell was fouled with 33.3 seconds left and made the second of two free throws.
UW had another chance but the offense got bogged down and Happ called a timeout with nine seconds on the shot clock and 11 in the game.
Reuvers got another wide-open look from three but missed. Cowan was fouled with 1.3 seconds left and made 1 of 2 attempts to close the scoring and crush UW's hopes.
"We’ve got to put it together for 40 minutes," Reuvers said. "We still should have won that game, even with all the mistakes we had in the first half."