Heading into Wednesday night’s road matchup with the Maryland Terrapins, the No. 17 Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball team was coming off perhaps their most complete game of the season. But Wisconsin couldn’t replicate its success, running out of gas and falling to Maryland 76-68 at a sold-out XFINITY Center in College Park, Maryland.
The Badgers, now 16-5 (6-4 Big Ten), have lost two straight road conference games.
In a game that was close most of the way through, the difference may have come down to 3-pointers. John Tonje hit five 3s for the Badgers, but the rest of the team went a combined 4-19. Meanwhile, Maryland shot 12-24 from beyond the arc, going 7-11 in the second half.
Rodney Rice and Ja’Kobi Gillespie led the Terrapins with 16 points each. Julian Reese went 6-9 from the field and scored 14 points, while Selton Miguel and Derik Queen each added 12 points, to round out a Maryland starting five that all reached double figures.
Tonje’s 23 points led the Badgers offensively, but other than him, Wisconsin had a difficult time mustering up offense. Wisconsin failed to reach 70 points for only the second time this season. In both games, Wisconsin has lost.
Steven Crowl and John Blackwell each supplied Wisconsin with 10 points, while Nolan Winter and Kamari McGee added nine. Max Klesmit, scoring only five points, went 1-9 from the field.
Wisconsin was thrown off early by a menacing Terrapins defensive showing. Pressuring the Badgers deep in the backcourt, Maryland forced Wisconsin into 10 turnovers, eight of which came in the first half.
The Badgers’ other kryptonite revealed itself in their performance at the free-throw line, where they have been so good all season. Leading the nation in free-throw shooting percentage, Wisconsin shot only 15-21. An ugly, pointless trip to the free-throw line in the first half for Klesmit, who was shooting 86.3 percent from the line before the game, summed up Wisconsin’s uncharacteristic night at the charity stripe.
Leading for most of the first half, Wisconsin found themselves trailing 32-31 at the half after a late Maryland surge. But after a decent start to the second half, Wisconsin crumbled, allowing an 11-0 run, shifting the momentum and control into Maryland’s hands. Over the three-minute stretch, Wisconsin didn’t capitalize on easy looks of their own and allowed Maryland to gain points in transition.
From there the Terrapins held onto the lead, with Wisconsin unable to claw back into close quarters despite keeping the game interesting until late.
