Terps Stage Desperate Rally in Minnesota, Get Late Lead Only To Lose; Key Blown Call and Disasterous First Half Doom Terps

BALTIMORE, Maryland February 18, 2016 - Maryland played so poorly it was hard to watch.  Matched against a team that was 0-13 in Big Ten Play, and hadn't won a game of any kind since December, the Terps fell behind and stayed behind for most of the game.  Often times the Gopher lead was in double digits.  Maryland was down, 40-29, at the half and were still way behind with ten minutes left.  Melo Trimble looked worse than he has ever looked in a Maryland uniform.  

And then Maryland rallied, thanks almost exclusively to a career high scoring performance by Rasheed Sulaimon.  The senior transfer from Duke hit a long three to put Maryland in front by a point, 60-59, inside of three minutes to play.  Maryland even got the ball back after that score, and had the lead and the ball with with 2:45 left.  But they couldn't hold it.  Sulaimon actually missed a lay-up in the frantic closing minutes. The worst play came when Ttimble went baseline, only to be chested out of bounds by Minnesota's hulking center, Jordan Murphy.  But the three Big Ten officials made no call.  One would wonder why they thought Trimble went sprawling out of bounds, but why argue with such total failures as these Big Ten officials.  It doesn't seem to matter which trio is on the floor, they will find a way to disgrace themselves and that non-call ranked right up there with some of their other boneheaded decisions.  

Minnesota's lead was just one point, 62-61, when Jake Layman poked the ball away from a Gopher guard with 31 seconds left.  Trimble grabbed the loose ball and headed down the floor with a chance to put Maryland back in front.  But his pass to Layman on the baseline was intercepted by Gopher freshman Dupree McBrayer with 27 seconds left and Maryland never again had a chance to pull even or take the lead.

The final score was 68-63, Minnesota.

But don't for a minute think that no-call involving Trimble meant Maryland would have won if it had been made properly.  This team played so poorly it just boggled the mind.  Some of the turnovers were more befitting of a high school JV game.  And boy did Maryland ever miss Diamond Stone.  Were Stone playing tonight, Maryland certainly would have won.  Damonte Dodd and Michael Cekovsky played very well.  Dodd had blocks and baskets and was very active in the lane.  Cekovsky made one block that saved a basket and appeared to have a second block until a late whistle assessed a foul against him.  But Maryland looks for neither on offense, and their offensive contributions are limited to rebounding.  Cekovsky, especially, deserves better.  And Dodd has played very well this season.  Neither is Diamond Stone.