MD loses in OT at UVA; The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

During the first half of today’s game vs. the Cavaliers, the University of Maryland led by as many as 17 points. In the second half and OT, the Terps were not able to do enough to leave Virginia with the win, losing 61-58.

With the loss, Maryland ends the regular season 20-11 overall, and finishes below .500 in Atlantic Coast Conference play at 8-10.

The Terrapins will now prepare for Wake Forest in the opening round of the ACC Tournament. Maryland was 2-0 vs. the Demon Deacons during the regular season.

The Good:

1) Layman tied the game at 3, hitting from the wing in the opening minute of play. Finishing through contact, Layman dunked from the baseline and went to the line. Coming up with a steal and a basket, Layman put MD up 29-12. Layman came up with a steal in OT, and got to the foul line.

2) Maryland went up 6-3, with Faust hitting hitting his first shot of the game. With the clock running down, Faust hit his second 3 – while appearing to be fouled on the shot. Nice defensive play from Faust to get to ball, and create a fast-break. The Terps went up 20-8, when Faust came up with a steal and a dunk. Faust’s third 3 made it 25-8. UVA had closed to within 6 points, when Faust fed Len for a dunk. Faust’s first basket of the 2nd half made it 52-49 with 1:53 left.

3) Nice pass from Len to Layman on the baseline. In the first 40 seconds of the 2nd half, Len got good position, and earned a trip to the line. He missed a shot while being defended by 3 guys, but went to the ground to get the ball back for MD. The Terps went up 13 (37-24), when Len finished on a reverse. Nice cut from Len to take a great pass from Faust. Len finished with a dunk. The next time down the court, he drew a UVA foul. Securing a big board on the defensive side, Len was fouled and send to the line. Knocking down both shots, MD went up 50-42.

4) Wells went behind his back, and finished at the rim to increase MD’s lead to 8 at 14-6. Cutting down the lane, Wells scored again to make it 16-6.  At 25-12, Wells attacked the basket and scored. Wells did a nice job on the boards today, finishing with 12 rebounds. With the game tied and MD going for their last shot, Wells cleared out space and scored to put MD up 54-52. Great to see Wells wanting the ball in that situation, especially since he had had a poor offensive game to that point. Wells came up with a huge block in OT, and just a monster dunk to tie the game at 56 in OT. The next time down the floor, MD was down 2, and Wells got to the foul line. He hit both, to tie the game at 58.

5) With MD up 18-6, Howard had a good defensive play knocking a ball out of bounds. ESPN‘s Jay Williams pointed out that Howard was playing good defense on Virginia’s Joe Harris. Howard found Aronhalt for a 3 in the middle of the 2nd half. Getting the ball up the court, Howard found Allen for a 3 as well.

6) After having his first shot attempt blocked, Padgett got better position on his next attempt and scored to make it 22-8. Scoring again inside, MD went up 31-14.

7) Maryland used a 19-2 run to take a 25-8 lead. At the half, MD led by 13.

8) With less than a minute left in the 1st half, Mitchell bull-dozed his way to the foul line. Mitchell had 4 boards off the bench in the first 20 minutes. Mitchell had an offensive board and put-back, putting MD up 35-23. Another strong rebounding game for Mitchell, as he finished with 8 boards.

9) At half-time, MD led on the boards 21-9.

10) During the first 20 minutes, UVA was just 8 of 24 from the floor, and had only been to the line 3 times.

11) Aronhalt hit a needed 3 in the middle of the 2nd half, putting MD back-up by 9 at 45-36.

12) The Cavaliers had cut the lead to 5 (45-40), when Allen buried an open 3 with a little over 6 minutes left in regulation.

13) Even with the OT, MD only had 13 turnovers.

The Bad:

1) Len had his first shot blocked, to start the game. His 2nd shot was a brick from 3. With 7:40 left in the 1st half, Len took an open 17 foot shot and missed everything. At 29-14 MD, Len attempted to thread the needle to Layman underneath. With 17 minutes left in the 2nd half, Len air-balled another jumper. That was a play he had the opportunity to back down his defender and score inside. With 5:32 left in the game, Len was called for traveling. (Play was over-turned to a jump ball, possession MD.) With 2:40 left in regulation, Len forced a shot attempt with plenty of time still on the shot clock. In OT it appeared Len tapped in a shot for UVA. Len was just 2 of 9 from the floor.

2) After hitting an early 3, Faust air-balled an attempted layup from the baseline. After scoring 13 points in the 1st half, Faust was a non-factor for most of the 2nd half. In OT, with MD down 60-58, Faust attempted a very tough and contested 3.

3) MD would score on the possession (Faust’s second 3), but on that trip down the floor; Howard attempted to do a bit too much on his no look pass to Len. At 18-6, Howard turned it over, with a sloppy attempted pass to Aronhalt.

4) Entering the game off the bench, Padgett had his first shot attempted blocked.

5) Coming out of a timeout, Wells got called for an offensive foul. A minute later, he fumbled the ball out of bounds. Early in the 2nd half, Wells missed a layup. MD was leading 50-44 with 4+ minutes left, when Wells finished a poor MD possession with a contested jumper from the top of the key. Attempting to go to the rim with 1:30 left, Wells was blocked. With MD down 2, there was no need for  Wells’ jumper from the top of the key in OT. Wells had trouble scoring today, finishing just 5 of 18 from the floor. With 8 seconds left in OT, and MD looking to tie the game, Wells lost the ball in the lane. Maryland was down 3, when Wells attempted to force a 2nd OT. Wells missed, and the game was over.

6) Layman picked up his 3rd foul of the game, a minute into the 2nd half. After a 6+ minute stretch on the bench, Layman came back in the game, only to pick up his 4th foul with 12:39 left. Layman missed the front end of a 1&1 in OT.

7) Allen missed a layup at the 10 minute mark of the 2nd half. He was just 1 for 5 from the floor.

8) Mitchell was called for an offensive foul on a moving screen, in the middle of the 2nd half.

9) Maryland played with great energy in the 1st half. In the 2nd half, it seemed like they were just trying to hold on, and that they had stopped punching.

10) Another game where Shaq Cleare found himself glued to the bench.

11) UVA used a 7-0 run, to make it a 1 point game with 2 minutes left in regulation. UVA outscored MD 42-26 in the 2nd half and OT.

12) With 40 seconds left in OT,  Aronhalt lost the ball.

The Ugly:

1) Aronhalt air-balled a 3 from 5 feet behind the 3 point line as time was running out on the 1st half. This gave UVA enough time to get a shot off of their own, and Virginia’s Justin Anderson hit a 3 to pull the Cavs within 13 at the break.

2) The Terps were up 13 (37-24), when Howard was called for a technical foul.

3) Maryland shot just 33% from the floor for the game.

4) The Terrapins had the opportunity to secure their best road win of the year, finish .500 in conference play, and enter the ACC Tournament  on a positive note – but failed to do so.