The Terps were outscored by 14 points in the second half.
No. 4-seed Maryland men’s basketball trailed by just two points at the half against No. 1-seed Florida. It had 20 minutes to keep its season alive.
But its last effort on the Chase Center’s parquet didn’t embody a team that was desperate. Instead, it resembled a team out-of-sorts, and its energy failed to rise to the heat of the moment.
The Terps shot 39.3% from the field and 22.2% from deep in the second half, and were outrebounded by 11. Save for Derik Queen, who notched 17 second-half points and finished with a game-high 27, no Terp scored more than four points in the final 20 minutes.
The performance resulted in a lopsided 87-71 loss to the Gators Thursday night in San Francisco, ending Maryland’s sensational season in devastating fashion.
“[This team has] just been so much fun to coach and to kind of see them kind of grow together,” head coach Kevin Willard said. “They accomplished a lot in today’s world of trying to put together a roster.”
A calming presence against No. 13-seed Grand Canyon, Julian Reese took on a similar role early in the contest. He powered Maryland’s offense out of the gate, scoring three of its first four buckets and flashing both finesse and physicality in the paint.
“I’m just grateful I was able to be a part of a program like this,” Reese said. “It was just a blessing to be a part through ups and downs…even though we lost, my chin [is] up.”
But turnovers — six in the first nine minutes — and star Florida guard Walter Clayton Jr. gave the Terps fits. Clayton was fearless, pulling up from anywhere on the floor and sinking seemingly reckless threes with ease. He drilled two deep, heavily contested triples in the opening six minutes, both on the move. He finished with 13 points and four assists.
Maybe it was Clayton’s confidence that rubbed off on the rest of the Gators. In the first 10 minutes, Florida fired up nine threes, connecting on four. Maryland, by contrast, attempted just one — and missed.
The same rebounding woes that plagued the Terps against Colorado State — in which they were outrebounded 39-29 — reared their ugly head again Thursday. By the 12-minute mark, Florida had already built a 13-5 edge on the glass. Maryland was outrebounded by 22 in the contest, 42-20.
“[Florida’s] got two 6-foot-10 guys or taller on the floor at the same time,” Queen said. “Physical guys, big bodies, and they’re just running in, flying in, trying to get a rebound.”
Even when star forward Alex Condon exited to the locker room with an ankle injury five minutes in, the Gators still outworked Maryland down low. Thomas Haugh and Rueben Chinyelu picked up the slack, combining for 10 first-half rebounds.
But Ja’Kobi Gillespie kept Maryland in striking distance. He buried the team’s first three 3-pointers, all in a two-minute span. Gillespie, Queen, who poured in 10 points, and Reese were the only Terps to score in the first 17 minutes.
And yet, despite all the signs pointing to Florida’s control, Maryland led for 2:22 in the first half and trailed by just two points at the break.
But things shifted quickly at the start of the second half. In just four minutes, Florida blitzed Maryland with a 10-4 run. Chinyelu was especially dominant around the rim, starting the half 3-for-3.
With 13 minutes remaining, Condon returned to the lineup. He finished the night with six points, four rebounds and a block in 15 minutes.
By the 10:24 mark of the second half, the Terps found themselves in a nine-point hole, in desperate need of one of their signature second-half surges. Instead, Alijah Martin sliced through the defense for an and-1 layup, pushing Florida’s lead to its largest of the night.
Then came a costly sequence. Reese’s flagrant 1 foul handed Chinyelu a free throw, which he calmly sank. On the ensuing possession, Florida tacked on two more from the line, stretching the margin to 14 points. Maryland’s mistakes piled up and the clock worked against them.
Things only spiraled from there. Down 16 points and in dire need of offense, Maryland instead sputtered to a 1-for-7 stretch. Meanwhile, Florida stayed red-hot from beyond the arc, shooting 53.3% from the field in the second half and 50% overall.
The defeat was Maryland’s worst of the season by a wide margin, a sour ending to what had been one of the program’s most memorable campaigns in recent years.
Three things to know
1. Turnovers. The 20 combined turnovers between the two programs in the first half were the most of any game in the NCAA Tournament thus far. Florida’s 13 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes eclipsed its season average of 10.6 per game.
2. No-show for Selton Miguel. Miguel has been the spark plug for Maryland so many times this season, but the fifth-year was nowhere to be found Thursday. He finished the night scoreless, going 0-for-7 from the field and picking up four personal fouls.
3. End of the road. Maryland had the opportunity to advance to its first Elite Eight since its 2001-02 national championship season. The loss instead marks Reese’s final game in a Maryland uniform, and potentially Willard’s last game on the sideline.
“I don’t know who my boss is going to be…that worries me a little bit,” Willard said. “I don’t know what I’m doing…I made a promise to this team that I was going to just focus on this team, and that’s all I’ve done.”