Huskers fear the second half Turtle, fall 90-74 to Maryland

The Nebraska Cornhuskers hosted the Maryland Terrapins in Lincoln tonight for the first time in three seasons. The Huskers fell 90-74, giving up at least 90-points to an opponent for the seventh time this season while it was the Terps second road game against a Big Ten opponent in which the interim led team scored 90 points. The win snapped a five game losing streak for Maryland.

Nebraska started out strong, leading for the first 10:11 of game action including by as much as five. Maryland kicked off a 13-3 run over the next roughly two minutes of game action mostly powered by free throws and second-chance opportunities.

The Terps seized a five-point lead instead before the Huskers finally woke up and tied it back-up before trading leads back until the 4:47 mark. At that point, Kobe Webster hit a three-pointer to give UNL a one-point lead and the Huskers didn’t make a field goal for the remainder of the half.

Besides a few free throws, the Huskers closed the half out on an almost five minute scoring drought, going 0-for-6 from the field. Nebraska also finished the half going just 5-for-13 on layups and getting just three points on opponent turnovers. However, UNL did outrebound an opponent for once, edging the Terps 20-17 on the boards, including an 8-6 advantage on the offensive glass.

The second half was much the same story as most of the season. It almost feels like I could simply copy and paste most of the second half recaps over the last month or so and it could apply to this team. Nebraska was outscored 48-34 overall in the half, but the Terps came out strong to open a double digit lead three minutes into the half and never looked back.

Maryland started the half on a 12-4 run, capped off with a monster dunk by Donta Scott. UNL managed to cut the UMD lead to just seven with 12:56 to go, but Maryland mounted a huge run from there. The only thing truly worth mentioning was the dirty play by Maryland’s Julian Reese in which he fouled Bryce McGowens on a layup attempt and then proceeded to think he was guarding Brad Davison and proceeded to shove McGowens back to the ground when he tried to get up despite the younger McGowens not being the reason for the Maryland big man losing his footing and coming down awkwardly on his legs. Reese received a dead ball technical foul as a result.

After leading by as much as 20 in the second half, Maryland finished the game up 16. The Huskers couldn’t get it closer than 10 down the stretch late.

Speaking of the younger McGowens, though, he continued to bolster his resume for Freshman of the Year consideration with the game high 25 points to lead both teams in scoring. Bryce went 14-for-15 from the free throw line, though just 1-for-6 from three (the Huskers went an abysmal 5-for-17 from behind the arc overall for just 29.4 percent shooting).

Alonzo Verge Jr. added 14 points and C.J. Wilcher added 10 for double digit scorers. Verge also led the team with five assists while Derrick Walker led the team with six rebounds.

Maryland finished the game with 46 points in the paint to the Husker’s 28. UNL managed to finish in the lead for rebounds, but just 34-33 in the end.

The Huskers return to action Tuesday, Feb. 22 at Northwestern with tipoff set for 7 p.m. CST. The game will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.