Maryland Basketball: Hawkeyes soar past Terps

Feb 25, 2017; College Park, MD, USA; Iowa Hawkeyes forward Nicholas Baer (51) and Maryland Terrapins center Damonte Dodd (35) compete for a loose ball at the Xfinity Center. Mandatory Credit: Mitch Stringer-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 25, 2017; College Park, MD, USA; Iowa Hawkeyes forward Nicholas Baer (51) and Maryland Terrapins center Damonte Dodd (35) compete for a loose ball at the Xfinity Center. Mandatory Credit: Mitch Stringer-USA TODAY Sports /
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On a day full of excitement and reminiscing, the Maryland Terrapins managed to create a game to forget.

Maryland fell flat against Iowa in a 83-69 defeat and lost their third consecutive game. That loss marks the longest losing streak since Turgeon’s first season in College Park.

Fans welcomed back the 2001 Final Four and 2002 National Champion teams with an afternoon of greetings and a halftime presentation. Steve Blake mentioned that this was first regular season game since he was a student here. Blake, Juan Dixon and Gary Williams got the warmest welcomes of all the players during halftime.

None of this, unfortunately, could distract from the game Mark Turgeon’s team provided from fans. After losing two in a row, Maryland tried to avoid a three game skid, but nothing could do.

From the tip, Maryland had just about nothing extra in their step. The Terrapins trailed for over 36 minutes, and could not fight back for whatever reason.

Maryland has prided itself with the play of Anthony Cowan, Kevin Huerter and Justin Jackson, but this game was owned by the Hawkeye freshman.

The cycle of Maryland’s free fall began with freshman Tyler Cook killing the Terrapins inside. He came in averaging just under 12 points and five rebounds per game, but he finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds against Maryland.

Any time Turgeon wanted to key on him inside, Iowa kicked it out to freshman Jordan Bohannon who averages 9 points per game. At Xfinity Center, the guard managed to drop 24 points, including 8 from long-range.

The only possible bright spot was Kevin Huerter, who finished with 13 points on 5 of 11 shooting. Damonte Dodd fouled out with 6 points and Melo Trimble only notched 10 points so this was a game to forget without a doubt.

The Terrapins are simply tired, and are heading in a free fall. They close out the season with a road game Tuesday night at Rutgers, and a home game in one week against Michigan State. Turgeon and his troops need to hurry and catch themselves before they end up on the bubble with March around the corner.