Maryland forward Donta Scott took a philosophical approach to Sunday’s 61-59 Big Ten loss against Michigan State.
“We got good looks and we got good shots,” Scott said. “Some days, they just don’t fall.”
The Terrapins will need shots to fall Wednesday night in Iowa City if they want to bounce back from consecutive losses with a conference win over Iowa.
Maryland (11-8, 3-5 Big Ten) fell behind by 15 in the first half against Michigan State before piecing together a rally that put it ahead 53-50 with 8:26 left after Jahmir Young nailed a 3-pointer. But the Terps managed just six points for the game’s remainder.
The Terps finished with just 42 percent shooting from the field while holding Michigan State to the same. Also damaging was using 18 of their 64 possessions to turn the ball over, a rate of 28.1 percent that was deadly in a one-possession outcome.
“It took us a while, unfortunately, to kind of get used to their speed,” Maryland coach Kevin Willard said.
Young leads the team in scoring at 20.7 points per game, while Julian Reese chips in 13.4 ppg and 9.8 rebounds.
Meanwhile, Iowa (11-7, 3-4) is coming off an 84-70 loss Saturday to Purdue that ended its three-game winning streak. The Hawkeyes dug a 19-point hole and fought back within eight before running out of steam, failing to score over the game’s final 4:22.
Lately, Iowa has shown signs of playing to its identity during the Fran McCaffery era — score often and efficiently. It hit nearly 46 percent of its shots Saturday and committed just seven turnovers, but a 50-24 rebounding disadvantage was too much to overcome.
“I thought we had pretty decent shots,” McCaffery said. “The guys were really moving the ball, I thought. I don’t think we settled. We had the right guy shooting the ball. That’s kind of how we play.”
Ben Krikke leads the team in scoring at 16.5 ppg, while Tony Perkins adds 14.4 ppg and a team-high 4.2 assists. Perkins scored 24 points against Purdue.
–Field Level Media
