Home Loss Stuns Gophers
January 8, 2019

Coming on the heels of the University of Minnesota women’s basketball team’s 66-62 home meltdown against Illinois, the Gopher men’s team replicated the feat while losing to the Maryland Terrapins.

Anthony Cowan and Jalen Smith combined for 48 points in leading the Terrapins past the stunned Gophers, 82-67, before 9,919 fans at Williams Arena. Minnesota blew an eight-point lead in the second half after Maryland coach Mark Turgeon switched to a 2-3 zone defense. The same tactic had worked on Sunday after Illinois switched to a zone against the Gopher women.

It didn’t help that Minnesota on Tuesday shot a miserable 39 percent (nine for 23) from the free throw line. Sixteen made free throws could have meant the difference in the game (Maryland made 24 of 27 shots from the line).

“We allowed,” coach Richard Pitino, “missed free throws to sap our energy.” That, and the fact that Jordan Murphy, Minnesota’s best player, got into early foul trouble and was manhandled by the Terrapins’ twin towers of 6-10 Bruno Fernando and the 6-10 Smith.

Maryland shot a sizzling 70 percent of their shots from the floor in the second half, while the Gophers could hit only 10 of 23. “We got good looks,” Pitino observed, “but we weren’t hitting shots.

“We played the same against Boston College (a 68-56 loss). They were hitting their shots and we were missing ours. We lost our rhythm, and Cowens killed us.” (Cowens finished with 27 points, 23 in the second half.)

“We switched to a zone defense out of desperation,” Maryland coach Mark Turgeon said after the game. “We really couldn’t guard them until then.” Minnesota led by 54 to 47 with 14 minutes left in the game, but the Terrapins then went on a 22-7 run, and the Gophers were finished.

“We made shots, and they missed shots. Simple as that,” said Turgeon. “What’s remarkable is that we made our run with four freshmen in our lineup.” Maryland outrebounded the Gophers 39-28. Murphy was ovematched against the Terps’ tall wall of Fernando, Smith, and 6-9 reserve Ivan Bender. He could only muster five rebounds and nine points.

“Anthony [Cowens] got hot,” said Turgeon, “and we fed off his energy.”

The streaky Amir Coffey led the Gophers in scoring with 16 points, but missed five attempts (out of eight) from the free-throe line. Gabe Kalscheur had 13 points (10 in the first half).

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