Maryland Battles, But Depth and Defense Doom Upset Bid vs. No. 2 Michigan
For a moment, it looked like Maryland might pull off something special. Diggy Coit was cooking - and not just heating up, but scorching - dropping 31 points and splashing eight threes in front of a roaring Xfinity Center crowd.
The Terps were toe-to-toe with No. 2 Michigan, pushing for what would’ve been their first win over a top-2 opponent since joining the Big Ten in 2014.
But as Coit kept Maryland in the fight, the support system around him crumbled. Star forward Pharrel Payne, the Terps’ most impactful player on both ends, went down with a right leg injury in the first half - the same leg he injured weeks ago against Marquette.
He had to be helped off the floor. Then early in the second half, defensive anchor Solomon Washington was ejected after picking up a second technical foul in a heated moment with Michigan guard Nimari Burnett.
From there, the wheels came off. The Wolverines outscored Maryland by 27 after Washington’s ejection and ultimately ran away with a 101-83 win, staying undefeated at 10-0 and improving to 2-0 in conference play.
“We scored the ball fine,” Coit said afterward. “It was transition, rebounds, them being out - that hurt us.”
Coit, a graduate transfer and Maryland’s most reliable perimeter threat, came in shooting a team-best 42% from deep. He wasted no time making his presence felt, drilling his first three triples and scoring 22 of his 31 points in a blistering first half.
Michigan head coach Buzz Williams described his performance as “video-game like.” Wolverines forward Yaxel Lendeborg called Coit a “one-man army,” especially after Payne went down.
Lendeborg didn’t just praise Coit - he took it upon himself to slow him down. He was the primary defender on Coit in the second half, helping hold him to nine points over the final 20 minutes. Lendeborg also put in serious work on the offensive end, scoring 29 points and knocking down four threes of his own.
Michigan, as a team, was lights-out from beyond the arc - 12-for-19 overall, and just three misses in the second half. With Maryland forced to go small due to the absences of Payne (6’9”) and Washington (6’7”), the Terps had to pack the paint, leaving the perimeter vulnerable. That opened the door for Michigan’s shooters to feast.
Maryland tried to patch things together. George Turkson Jr., in his first action since Nov. 11, was thrown into the fire and even played some minutes at center.
Williams praised Turkson’s grit, saying, “I hope he’s the first to the fight, and the first to throw a blow in the fight. That’s what he does best.”
The lineup shuffle was real. Turkson joined Coit and Andre Mills in a revamped starting five.
Freshman guard Darius Adams and senior forward Elijah Saunders came off the bench for the first time this season and combined for 15 points. Indiana transfer Myles Rice matched that total with 15 of his own, including a season-high three made threes.
Despite the loss, Maryland showed some flashes. The Terps hit a season-high 14 threes and shot better than 50% from deep for the first time all year - and they did it against a Michigan defense that came in with the best efficiency rating in the country. In fact, Maryland posted their highest offensive efficiency of the season in this one, even against a Wolverines team that had been winning games by an average of 28 points.
“We gotta believe that we are meant to be at Maryland, in Xfinity Center, playing the No. 1 team,” Rice said. “I think we showed outstanding belief tonight.”
That belief showed up in the hustle stats, too. Maryland actually outrebounded Michigan - the Big Ten’s top rebounding team - by three.
But the Terps were undone by a lack of ball movement, finishing with 19 fewer assists than the Wolverines. They also only got to the free-throw line 13 times, their second-lowest total of the season.
Williams, who was coaching his first Big Ten home game, acknowledged that wins and losses will define the season in the public eye. But he’s urging his team to focus on the process - not just the results.
“If we only evaluate off results, we’re going to have a bad ride,” he said earlier in the week.
After the game, he doubled down on that message, saying the matchup - Maryland’s fourth this season against a top-25 NET team - was valuable, even in defeat.
“In a demented way, it’s healthy,” Williams said. “I understand we lost, but I thought there was a lot of traction from the bench, from the floor. I admire the resilience that those guys competed with.”
For Maryland, the final score - an 18-point loss - was actually their closest margin in any of those top-tier matchups. That says something about the fight this group still has, even when the odds (and injuries) stack up against them.
The road ahead won’t get easier, but if the Terps can get healthy and build on the offensive strides they made, there’s still time to turn belief into results.