CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Just as quickly as Maryland’s win over Duke on Saturday night vaulted them into the NCAA Tournament conversation, the Terrapins may have moved right back outside of it. A lackluster effort on Tuesday night culminated in a 69-58 loss that can undo a lot of what Saturday’s win did for them.
“I just don’t get it,” said head coach Mark Turgeon. “I just don’t understand – right here, it’s a big game, it’s not a hostile environment. You’ve just got to want it. It just seemed like we were standing in quicksand all night, standing and watching.”
Tuesday night wasn’t going to give Maryland a resume-building win, but the Terrapins needed it for a few reasons. It was the beginning of a regular season-ending stretch with four of six on the road, and a loss wouldn’t be a good way to start that. They were 2-4 on the road entering the night, which wouldn’t seem to bode well for this stretch. It was also their first game after the big win over Duke, so they also wanted to avoid a letdown.
Then there’s one part that trumps them all for why they should have wanted Tuesday night: avoiding a bad loss, even though the Eagles are better than their record suggests. After all, this team gave Miami, Duke and NC State all they could handle in Chestnut Hill and did likewise with Maryland in College Park last month. The Eagles aren’t far from being a .500 team in ACC play. But the selection committee will probably notice how far down in the ACC standings BC is when they evaluate Maryland.
“We really needed this one,” said senior guard Logan Aronhalt, who led the Terrapins with 26 points on 8-13 shooting, including 7-12 on three-pointers. “We did this before, we beat NC State, then came out and got crushed against North Carolina. I think this game was more important because our NCAA Tournament hopes are on the line now with every game. Tonight was important for us. I don’t know where it puts us now, but it’s not good.”
Maryland had a couple of stretches in the first half where they looked on the verge of taking a good lead and possibly breaking the game open. But they never sustained the level of play for long, and in the second half they paid for it. Boston College opened the second half with a 17-5 run to take the lead, and later had another 17-5 run where they took over the game for good.
In the closing run, Boston College simply looked like they wanted the game more. The Eagles got most loose balls and scored off broken plays a number of times. Maryland came in with the top rebounding margin in the ACC by a wide margin, but the Eagles out-rebounded them 37-32.
Dez Wells had one of the plays of the night for three of those points in the home stretch, finishing by being a little more ball tough than the defender who fouled him pretty good before flirting with a taunting technical, but that play was just a blip on the radar screen. Well was just 4-12 from the field on the night.
“Give them credit, they played great in the second half, played with more energy than we played with,” said Turgeon. “They got every long rebound, every loose ball. I’m really disappointed in our effort and our ability to, in a big game, not play with a little heart and a little more desire. It was hard to watch.”
Added Aronhalt: “I think why we lost the game wasn’t in the stats. I think loose balls, and I guess rebounding, there were a lot of loose balls there, too. We were a step slow everywhere.”
Wells had just nine points, as only Aronhalt scored in double figures. Boston College was determined not to let Alex Len have another big night against them after he had 16 points and 13 boards in College Park last month, and Len fouled out with just four points on 1-5 shooting to go with eight rebounds. No one else got going on the evening, and the Terrapins shot just 24.1 percent from the field in the second half.
Maryland has been able to avoid a bad loss to date. Before Tuesday, their worst losses were probably the two to Florida State, which is probably not a resume killer by itself. They have a dearth of quality wins aside from Saturday’s over Duke, however, as aside from that and one over NC State, the best one is probably at Northwestern in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge or at home against America East leader Stony Brook (who is actually in the top 100 while Northwestern is not). As a result, they entered the week with an RPI of 62.
Maryland does have opportunities remaining, however. They still have to play North Carolina, which may be a fellow bubble team, and they go to Virginia to close the regular season. They may get another shot at Miami, Duke, Virginia and/or NC State in the ACC Tournament as well. But at 6-7 in conference play, they have a lot of work to do to be back in the discussion.
In addition, Turgeon said he wasn’t concerned about the game being right after a big win so much as he is about his team’s consistency. With seven of the ten rotation players being underclassmen, it’s easy for the effort to come and go a bit. He admitted he’s not sure what he’ll get from them every day, although the talent is certainly there.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever coached a team that’s this young that I have to rely on so much,” said the veteran coach. “I know their freshmen played really well tonight. This is new territory for me.”
With youth, there tends to be ups and downs. That appears to be what this team is on the season, and perhaps they are best termed a “potential” team. That’s not a good place to be at this point in the season, but that’s where the Terrapins are after Tuesday night.
