Takeaways from Maryland men’s basketball’s 64-54 loss to Oregon

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Maryland men’s basketball matched up against a program that mirrored its own record Saturday — 7-6 overall and 0-2 in the Big Ten. And while the contest was evenly matched throughout, the Terps were bested in the end, 64-54.

Here are three takeaways from the game.

The paint was not Maryland’s friend, on both ends of the floor

One of the reasons why the Terps’ shooting was so abysmal early was because they simply weren’t creating easy looks. Instead, resistance in the paint caused Maryland to hoist up nine threes in the game’s opening 12 minutes — it made just one of them.

In that same span, the Terps tallied just two points in the paint. One of Solomon Washington’s first-half layup attempts got violently swatted away; it was a microcosm of the team’s efforts inside the arc.

On the defensive end, trying to stop Nate Bittle in the restricted area was no easy task. The 7-footer had a serious size advantage against each Maryland defender he faced, including the likes of Collin Metcalf, Solomon Washington and Elijah Saunders. Bittle racked up nine points on 4-of-5 shooting to go with five rebounds in the first half.

The formidable pairing of Bittle and Kwame Evans Jr. in the front court forced head coach Buzz Williams’ hand when it came to his own lineups. His response included on-court combinations that starred Metcalf and George Turkson Jr. — Solomon Washington also saw some time at the three Friday.

With fewer ball-dominant scorers around Washington, he shouldered much of the scoring burden. He had a 34.4% usage rate in the opening half — the next closest Maryland player was Darius Adams, at 21.2%.

Maryland’s guards didn’t step up

In the absence of Pharrel Payne, Maryland needed stellar performances from its guard group. It turned out some solid performances against Old Dominion, but Oregon presented a much tougher challenge. The guards didn’t rise to the occasion.

Perhaps the biggest issue Friday was the guards’ inability to get downhill and past defenders effectively. Part of what makes the Terps’ backcourt so tough to defend is their collective ability to hit deep shots — Myles Rice, Isaiah Watts and Diggy Coit are all proficient 3-point shooters. But they can also be streaky.

When it was evident that the deep shots weren’t falling — the Terps finished 7-of-35 from downtown — Maryland’s guards became heavily one-dimensional. And none are crafty or athletic enough to consistently find other areas of the court to be dangerous from; the Terps converted on just five of their 16 layup attempts.

Drive-and-kick opportunities never really opened up lanes for Maryland, either. The Ducks always seemed to be a step ahead, sticking with drivers and not biting on perimeter shots. This led to entire possessions being wasted just trying to find an open shooter — the result was often a late heave or turnover.

No answers late

Down seven points with seven minutes left to play, Maryland needed a surge of impressive play to contend for victory. That surge never came.

In fact, Maryland went on a near-five minute scoring drought in the final 10 minutes of action. The stretch consisted of several lowlights, with each passing one seemingly worse than the last. A Darius Adams floater clanged off the backboard without touching the rim, resulting in a shot clock violation. Seconds later, Coit tried to take things into his own hands by hoisting a near-30 foot step-back jumper, but it ricocheted off the front of the rim. An Andre Mills attempt was then swatted away viciously by Bittle.

Nothing was falling.

Even the routine shots weren’t going in. Coit had a wide-open 3-pointer to cut the Ducks’ lead down to four with 3:18 left, but it missed. In fact, the Terps finished the game on a 1-of-7 shooting run.

At this point in the season, even with Payne out, Maryland should have established both a late-game scoring option and a viable offensive gameplan. But the discombobulated nature of the final five minutes revealed a team that still doesn’t have a set pecking order. Five different Terps attempted a shot in the last five minutes, but none found a rhythm, and only one hit a shot.

In some ways, it felt like the team was proverbially throwing things at the wall to see what would stick. But crunch time doesn’t bode well for that strategy. Maryland could see several games in conference play boil down to the final minutes, just as it did last season. And since it’s unlikely that the Terps will be blowing out any Big Ten opponents in the near future, those late-game minutes will need to be cleaned up.

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