USC can’t pull off 2nd-half comeback in loss to No. 20 Maryland
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — The USC men’s basketball team spent each half trying to dig out of holes and couldn’t complete a comeback in an 88-71 loss to No. 20 Maryland on Thursday night.
Rodney Rice scored 22 points, Ja’Kobi Gillespie added 20 and the host Terrapins (21-6 overall, 11-5 Big Ten) won for the eighth time in nine games while sending the Trojans (14-12, 6-9) to their fourth loss in five games.
Julian Reese added 19 points with 10 rebounds and Derik Queen had 13 points and 17 rebounds for the Terps, who never trailed, opening each half with a flourish and keeping USC at bay.
Wesley Yates III scored 21 to lead USC, which lacked Maryland’s balance on offense. Kevin Patton Jr. had 11 points off the bench, Saint Thomas contributed 10 points, five assists, four rebounds and three steals, and Clark Slajchert had nine points off the bench. Chibuzo Agbo and Desmond Claude, two of USC’s top three scorers this season, were limited to 12 combined points.
Maryland pounced on USC with an 11-point onslaught in the game’s first 2:14 and led 18-5 after a dunk by Jordan Geronimo. USC coach Eric Musselman had tried to slow Maryland’s quick start, calling an early timeout after two quick 3-pointers, but the Terps still pushed the lead into double digits and the Trojans were playing catch-up the rest of the way.
USC whittled the deficit to 30-27 on a Patton layup late in the first half, but the Terps responded by scoring the final seven points of the half. Then the Terps began the second half with a 15-5 run to double their advantage to 20.
Slajchert made three 3-point shots in the second half and USC rallied again to cut the deficit to six points on a Yates 3-pointer with 9:37 remaining, but the Trojans could get no closer.
Queen answered Yates’ 3-pointer with a dunk then rebounded a Claude miss on the other end, setting up a Selton Miguel basket on the other end to push Maryland’s lead back to 10 points. The Terps led by at least eight points the rest of the night and improved to 16-1 at home this season with their 13th consecutive home win.
“We played the 20th-best team in the country. Their starting lineup is as good as any starting lineup in the country,” USC coach Eric Musselman said of a Maryland quintet that scored 85 of the Terps’ 88 points. “What a crowd they had. This is why they only lost one home game here. We are not the only team they do this to. They have a great roster, and we didn’t come out in either half very well. We were blitzed to the start of the game and blitzed to start the second half.
“We have to come play. I thought we played as hard as we could. We didn’t make shots. I thought we took some ill-advised shots. We just were not ready to beat them at their place, and that was evident tonight. Now we have to go to Rutgers and play against two NBA lottery picks.”
USC was outrebounded 41-26 and Maryland had a significant advantage at the free-throw line, going 18 for 21 compared to 6 for 8 for the Trojans.
Musselman praised the contributions of several of his reserves.
“Jalen Shelley played really good and he played really hard. He got loose balls and range rebounds,” Musselman said. “Kevin Patton came in and he started off five of five (from the field). He played really well until a couple of minutes after he went five of five. Clark Slajchert then came in and banged threes. When you get your minutes, you got to produce, and I thought our bench did a great job, maybe as good a game as we have had off the bench.”
It’s likely too late for the Terps to win a share of the Big Ten title, but a double bye to the quarterfinals of the conference tournament is in play. They would need to finish in the top four, and this victory put them in a tie for fourth.
The teams were meeting for the first time since 1990, when each was in a different conference.
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USC plays at Rutgers on Sunday at 3 p.m. PT.