On February 25, 2015, Mark Turgeon’s Maryland picked up its first signature win as a member of the Big Ten.

At Xfinity Center, the #5 Wisconsin Badgers were upset by the #17 Terrapins, 59-53. Dez Wells provided 26 points while Melo Trimble added 16 points as the Terps knocked off a Wisconsin team that entered the game with an impressive record of 25-2.

While I don’t think anyone thought it was the same as beating Duke or North Carolina, it still felt like an important statement for the program’s new opponents: if you’re in the top ten, you’re in danger when you come to Xfinity Center. The upset of the #5 Badgers was the third straight year Maryland was able to defeat a top ten opponent in College Park, joining a 2013 victory against #2 Duke and a 2014 triumph over #5 Virginia.

That win then looked even more impressive after Wisconsin knocked off previously unbeaten Kentucky in the Final Four. While no one hangs banners for transitive wins, it felt pretty encouraging knowing that Maryland was able to beat the team that had dethroned a Kentucky team that could’ve gone down in the history books.

Now, let’s think about everything that’s happened with Maryland men’s basketball since Frank Kaminsky played for the losing team in College Park.

Can you point to another big win against an elite opponent in the regular season? Or a big run in either the Big Ten or NCAA tournament?

The answer to both of those questions will almost certainly be no. While several factors led to the end of the Mark Turgeon era, one of the easiest ones to notice is the fact that Maryland simply didn’t deliver big moments in the regular season, the Big Ten tournament and the NCAA tournament following the 2015 upset against Wisconsin.

Let’s start with the regular season results.

Even when Maryland was able to win the Big Ten regular-season title in 2019-20, they still missed their best chance to get a signature win when they lost to Michigan State on February 29. With a packed crowd that had attended College Gameday earlier in the day, #9 Maryland missed its chance to clinch the conference title that night with a 78-66 defeat to the #24 Spartans.

A loss at Rutgers further delayed the chance to celebrate before Maryland finally got the 14th Big Ten victory they needed for a share of the conference title against Michigan on March 8. You still get a trophy and a banner for a shared conference title, but it felt a little disappointing knowing Maryland finished the year tied with Michigan State and Wisconsin for first place in the conference standings.

Even when a Big Ten title wasn’t on the line, Maryland still lacked signature wins in College Park following the Wisconsin game. From 2015-16 to 2019-20, Maryland went 1-3 against top-ten opponents at Xfinity Center with a full capacity, only beating #3 Iowa in January 2016.

In the same timeframe, Michigan State’s Tom Izzo was 4-2 when hosting the top ten and Purdue’s Matt Painter was an even better 5-1. Izzo and Painter did each get two more chances at the top ten than Turgeon, but either way, winning 25% of your biggest home games is underwhelming compared to 67% for Izzo and 83% for Painter.

Meanwhile, Maryland went 7-3 at home against teams that were ranked #11 through #25 from 2015-16 to 2019-20. The Terps under Turgeon did a solid job protecting their home court against the good teams but simply weren’t able to deliver signature wins at the same rate as two of the Big Ten’s most successful programs.

When Maryland played ranked teams outside of College Park, however, the wins were much rarer. Maryland went 2-13 as a Big Ten school against ranked opponents on the road in front of normal crowds before Turgeon’s departure. Meanwhile, Minnesota and Nebraska each managed to get three road victories against the top 25 between 2014-15 and 2019-20. I think even the most pro-Turgeon parts of the fanbase would admit that letting two of the Big Ten’s weakest programs get more ranked wins on the road is hardly ideal.

Of course, a coach doesn’t always need glamorous regular season results to become successful. An ability to win in the conference and NCAA tournaments means that a magic March can make up for an uninspiring January and February. Just look at any power conference school that has made a tournament run as a double-digit seed, like #11 seed Syracuse making the Final Four in 2016.

However, that was never the case for Maryland in the Turgeon era for either tournament.

Maryland is 3-6 in the Big Ten tournament, having reached the semifinals their first two years in the conference but only winning a single game across four tournaments since then. Some of the defeats have felt especially frustrating, like wasting the rare opportunity to have the conference tournament in Washington D.C. by losing to Northwestern. 2019’s loss to a Nebraska team that was seeded #13 in a 14-team tournament was also a dreadful performance on a neutral floor for Turgeon’s team.

As for the NCAA tournament, Maryland reached the Sweet 16 just once in their five appearances. The 2015-16 Terps led by Melo Trimble made the tournament as a #5 seed and defeated #12 South Dakota State and #13 Hawaii before being outplayed by #1 Kansas in a 79-63 loss. 

A Big Ten team has reached the second weekend 14 times since Maryland arrived and the Terps trail Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue and Wisconsin for appearances in the Sweet 16 or deeper.

Maryland was able to win their first game of the tournament in four of the five appearances, showing a solid but ultimately unspectacular ability to avoid getting eliminated early by double-digit seed mid-majors. No one gets a statue for beating Valparaiso and Belmont, but also the nature of March Madness means that there should be some modest amount of credit for avoiding losses to teams like them.

The only time they lost to a double-digit seed was #11 Xavier and they were a Big East school that made a run to the Elite Eight. Maryland never had a great tournament run, but they were also never responsible for making someone like Middle Tennessee State the darling of the college basketball world for a week, so it’s better than nothing.

One final aspect of tournament frustration for Maryland is in their five tournament losses, only one was close. Their 2019 loss to #3 seed LSU came down to the final possession in a 69-67 loss but the four other games were all decided by double digits. It would’ve felt different if Maryland kept losing close games, knowing that one more bounce would’ve been all they needed for a deep run. However, that only happened in 2019.

Of course, a discussion of Maryland’s postseason results does require discussing the elephant in the room if we’re going to be fair about Turgeon’s tenure.

The 2019-20 team was his best team at Maryland and it did not get a chance to play in the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments because of the pandemic. For all we know, Jalen Smith and Anthony Cowan could’ve been Maryland’s most important duo since 2002 as they won the Big Ten tournament and rode the momentum to a Final Four.

On the other hand, Maryland could’ve had a repeat of 2016 by making the semifinals of the conference tournament and reaching the Sweet 16 before being comfortably outplayed by someone like Obi Toppin’s Dayton.

A deep tournament run would’ve likely improved Turgeon’s job security but an underwhelming postseason after Maryland’s best regular season in the Big Ten would’ve further increased fan frustration. 

Ultimately, Mark Turgeon’s time with Maryland in the Big Ten was hardly a failure. And yet, it feels impossible to truly call it a success between a lack of signature moments in the regular season or postseason.

Rose Katz
Rose Katz

BSL Analyst

Rose Katz is a recent graduate of the University of Maryland’s journalism school, where she worked for The Diamondback as the online managing editor and a sports blogger. As a student, she spent almost all of her time on campus in The Diamondback’s newsroom or at Xfinity Center, Ludwig Field and Maryland Stadium. Rose gained intern experience with the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN).

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