The Terps nearly blew a late lead.
Maryland men’s basketball narrowly escaped Nebraska, 69-66, Sunday at Xfinity Center.
The Terps led by nine points with less than four minutes remaining, but a 9-0 Nebraska run tied the score with a minute remaining.
Here are three takeaways from the game.
Queen’s up-and-down season continued
Less than a week ago, Derik Queen posted a season-high 27 points in a win over Minnesota, but followed it up with a nine-point, five-turnover performance against Northwestern Thursday. Instead of bouncing back, Queen’s stock continued to fall as he failed to make a single shot en route to a season-low three points.
His defensive play against Northwestern was heavily criticized, as he was consistently out of position and often did not keep up with his defensive assignment as they moved off-ball.
While his defensive effort marginally improved against the Cornhuskers, he was a nonfactor on offense. He did not command the ball on post-ups and lacked aggression when faced with a mismatch, resulting in his 0 for 4 shooting performance. And although he is a talented passer and recorded two assists Sunday, his turnover rate is far too high. He is occasionally careless with the ball and tries difficult moves that he has not perfected yet. He is averaging four turnovers per game over the last four games, including three Sunday.
Head coach Kevin Willard responded, benching Queen for eight of the final 10 minutes Sunday in favor of Jordan Geronimo, who played just two minutes against Northwestern.
Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Rodney Rice, Selton Miguel and Julian Reese picked up the slack, but Queen cannot put up duds if Maryland wants to consistently beat high-level opponents and win on the road.
Turnovers stalled the Terps’ offense
Maryland has protected the ball well throughout the season, committing 10.6 turnovers per game entering Sunday, fourth-fewest in the Big Ten. But the last three games have been a different story; the Terps committed 16 turnovers against then-No. 22 UCLA, 16 at Northwestern and 12 against Nebraska.
While Maryland started the game shooting 2-of-8 from the field, it took care of the ball — committing just two turnovers, both by Derik Queen — in the first 10 minutes, resulting in a five-point lead. But then the Terps got sloppy. They committed six turnovers in the following 10 minutes, which led to a near-five-minute scoring drought and allowed Nebraska to take a five-point advantage of its own. During the drought, Maryland was called for a 5-second violation fresh out of a timeout, highlighting coaching and execution lapses.
Luckily for Maryland, the Cornhuskers were not too sharp either. They committed nine turnovers in the first half — 13 total — multiple of which were just poor decisions rather than impressive defensive plays. Juwan Gary, Nebraska’s second-leading scorer, twice threw uncontested passes straight to Gillespie.
While Maryland cleaned up these issues in the second half and has overcome them at home, it’s been part of their road struggles and something it will need to address.
Maryland stumped Nebraska’s stars
The Terps struggled to contain Northwestern’s leading scorers Nick Martinelli and Brooks Barnhizer Thursday. Martinelli scored 22 points on 64.3% shooting, including the game-winner, while Brooks dropped 20 points and five assists.
But on Sunday, Nebraska’s top three leading scorers were all held below their season averages. Brice Williams, who averaged the fifth-most points per game in the conference with 18.9 entering the game, was subjected to more of a play-making role against the Terps, who assigned Rice to him for much of the game. Williams finished with 14 points on 6-of-14 shooting from the field and three assists.
Gary, coming off a 20-point game against Rutgers, posted one of his worst games of the season Sunday, recording just six points on 3-of-9 shooting from the field and two turnovers. He averaged 12.1 points per game prior to the contest.
Connor Essegian, Nebraska’s leading scorer off the bench, also totaled just six points, more than five points below his season average.
But the Cornhuskers saw production from a different source off the bench. Forward Andrew Morgan, who entered the game averaging 7.9 points per game, scored 12 of Nebraska’s first 24 points and finished with a team-high 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field.
While Morgan kept the Cornhuskers in the game, struggles from their top players ultimately led to their demise.