In a game of runs, Maryland beats Northwestern for first road win since December
ROSEMONT, Ill. — There were as yet a couple of moments left in Maryland's 71-64 triumph over Northwestern on Monday night, yet that didn't stop Terrapins Coach Mark Turgeon from walking around his sideline and connecting onto the court to high-five first-year recruit watch Darryl Morsell. It had been 78 days since Maryland had earned its first and final genuine street win of the season, the distance back on Dec. 3 at Illinois.
The Terrapins played around two hours north of the site of that triumph on Monday, before a little group at enormous Allstate Arena close to Chicago's O'Hare Airport — the Wildcats have been playing there all season while their home field experiences redesigns — yet it barely made a difference that this felt like an impartial site amusement. It will go down as a street win for Maryland, which defeated an 11-point shortage in the second half to win its second in a row. It's the first occasion when that Maryland — which had lost seven straight recreations out and about — has won back to back amusements since early January.
"It's two out of a column for us. I believe we're playing better. It's clearly great going into the finish of our season," said sophomore protect Kevin Huerter, who completed with 18 focuses and helped kick off a vital 16-2 run that was the distinction in the second half.
Maryland (19-11, 8-9 Big Ten) touched base here under 48 hours after it earned a normal win at home finished Rutgers, which did nothing to enhance its postseason list of qualifications. Monday night's diversion against the average Wildcats — who stunningly blew a 27-point lead in a home misfortune to Michigan State on Saturday — additionally guaranteed to do nothing for Maryland's beat up NCAA competition trusts. This was just an opportunity to save pride and increase any residual footing before Saturday's home finale against Michigan and one week from now's Big Ten competition in New York City.
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"After the last amusement, I stated, 'The main possibility you need to perhaps get to 9-9 [in Big Ten play] is to win at Northwestern," Turgeon told his players. "We're playing a decent Michigan group on Saturday, yet I think 9-9 allows you to think positive considerations."
The positive musings traveled every which way amid the main half Monday. Maryland's execution was a microcosm of its season — here and there, with snapshots of guarantee conflicting with irregularity in exertion. The Terrapins attempted to protect the edge early and surrendered a 9-2 lead inside the opening minutes. They reacted with a 13-0 run, on account of a resurgent hostile execution by senior focus Michal Cekovsky, who had three colossal dunks in the principal a large portion of that set up Maryland's quality on the inside and lightened consideration tossed at first-year recruit focus Bruno Fernando.
However, that burst offered approach to messy hostile play — Maryland had four turnovers in the last five minutes of the main half — and Northwestern (15-14, 6-10) utilized a 10-0 hurried to take a 37-30 halftime lead. The Wildcats hit eight of their 15 three-pointers in the primary half, while Maryland shot only 1 for 8 from somewhere down in the initial 20 minutes and kept on looking lost in all-out attack mode end ahead of schedule in the second half. Northwestern drove by 11 with 19:06 remaining. Somewhat more than a moment later, Fernando — who arrived at the midpoint of 19.5 focuses, 12.5 bounce back and three aids his past two amusements — went to the seat in the wake of grabbing his third foul.
In any case, that unpropitious improvement didn't appear to upset the Terrapins, who had experienced this situation various circumstances all through the season.
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"We simply continued discussing, in those timeouts going down, 'Okay, we've been here previously. What are we going to do? Are we going to change things tonight?' " Turgeon said. "Folks were quite decided today around evening time to change things."
Turgeon made a progression of alterations at halftime, including on edge end. Maryland had twofold joined focus Derek Pardon (14 focuses) in the primary half, which had prompted open kick-outs on the edge. Maryland rather centered around containing Vic Law (nine focuses on eight shots) and Scottie Lindsey (15 focuses on 12 shots) — and Northwestern shot only 2 for 10 from somewhere down in the last 20 minutes.
Huerter warmed up and scored 11 of his focuses in the second half, including a dunk on a help from Anthony Cowan Jr. that pulled Maryland inside seven with 15:29 remaining. When Huerter hit a sprinter in the path to slice Northwestern's prompt 49-46 with 13:11 to go, Maryland had discovered a hostile musicality. Cowan scored five straight focuses for the Terrapins, trailed by five straight from Dion Wiley. Cowan and Wiley completed with 13 focuses each.
A 16-2 Maryland run was topped by Fernando muscling his way to a bin and Wiley nailing a three-pointer from the corner, giving Maryland a 65-56 lead with 3:56 to play. Without precedent for months, Maryland looked open to playing with a late lead out and about. Subsequently, Turgeon's players spilled out of a new locker room longing for the potential outcomes whatever is left of the season could bring.
"It's genuine bravo since we're going into the Big Ten competition. I figure we can sneak a few wins in, possibly win the entire thing, truly, the way we're playing," Wiley said. "I believe we're playing at an extremely abnormal state."