Turnovers, Free Throws and Late Game Hustle Does Maryland In – Terps Lose 73-60 At Temple

The problems that have haunted Maryland’s basketball team all year were back in full force tonight, as the Terps played an incredibly sloppy game at the Palestra in Philadelphia, losing 73-60 to the Temple Owls.

The Terps were able to somehow keep it close despite committing 16 turnovers, but back-breaking three after back-breaking three from the Owls down the stretch eventually sealed it for Temple.

Without Terrell Stoglin, this game would have been a blowout for…well for almost all of it, it’s safe to say. The sophomore scored 20 points, hitting three key three pointers, and once again single-handedly kept Maryland in the game. The Terps did receive some secondary scoring help from Pe’Shon Howard (15 points) and James Padgett (ten points), but it wasn’t enough to overcome the 1:2 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Maryland struggled from the free throw line again, making 12 of their 21 attempts. Take away Stoglin’s five of six, and it looks even worse.

Temple’s balanced attack continued to pound on Maryland, and as the game went on whenever the Terps started to make a run one of the Owls’ guards would hit a well-timed three. Ramone Brown and Khalif Wyatt each scored 20 with two three pointers a piece, Juan Fernandez had 14 and was 3-3 from beyond the arc, and Aaron Brown scored ten points off the bench with two three pointers.

Perhaps the biggest story for Maryland on the day was an injury suffered to Alex Len early on in the first half. The Ukrainian big man appeared to sprain his ankle, and did not return to the game. Instead, he sat on the bench with a giant bag of ice on his ankle, which is a semi-good sign – if it was anything serious, one would think he would have been in the training room (or the hospital).

Sean Mosley and Nick Faust were both awful from the field, shooting a combined 1-12, but both had their usual contributions to other facets of the game. Mosley had a game-high ten rebounds and had two steals, while Faust had four rebounds, a team-high four assists, and was the only Terp besides Berend Weijs not to commit a turnover.

It was a very sloppy game for Maryland, and one that they should have lost by quite a bit more. The Terps now have a few days off before a Wednesday night home showdown against Duke.