Maryland 70, (6) Wisconsin 64: Last word

December 29, 2020
|In Badgers
|By Zach Heilprin

A rough first half offensively gave way to an ugly second half defensively for Wisconsin as Maryland handed the sixth-ranked Badgers their first Big Ten loss 70-64 on Monday night.

Player of the Game: Eric Ayala

Maryland’s leading scorer came to play in the second half, scoring all 17 of his points after halftime. The guard went 5-for-8 from the field, including hitting his last four shots of the game. He was 2-for-3 from beyond the arc, perhaps none bigger than one as the shot clock expired to give Maryland a 48-45 lead with 7:27 left. It was a lead the Terrapins would not relinquish the rest of the game on their way to the upset.

The good: D’Mitrik Trice on offense

Trice had another big game offensively, following up his 29-point performance against Michigan State with a 25-point effort against Maryland. That included 15 after halftime and he was one of just two players to score in double figures. Trice, like most of the Badgers, had a rough night defensively, but he did more than his share on the offensive end.

The not so good: Second-half defense

What was that? One of the best defenses in the country got shredded by Maryland after halftime, especially in the final 16:14 of the game. The Terrapins trailed 31-24 and had missed 11 straight shots going back to the first half. But a layup from Ayala jump started them and they made 16 of their final 19 shots, most of them coming around the basket. Of the 16 makes, 13 were either dunks or layups. They finished with 38 points in the paint despite playing much of the night with no one taller than the 6-foot-7 Donta Scott on the floor.

Stat of the Game: 53.3%

That’s what Wisconsin shot from the free throw line. Only three players actually made it to line — Trice, Brad Davison and Tyler Wahl. Trice went 6-for-7, but Davison twice missed the front end of a 1-and-1 and Wahl was just 2-for-6. The struggles come less than a week after going 15-for-15 against Nebraska.

Best Tweets:

In Case You Missed It

— Wisconsin played without freshman Ben Carlson again due to what the team is calling an upper body injury. The forward hasn’t played since Dec. 15 and has seen the floor for just 4 minutes since Dec. 4.

— Freshman Johnny Davis score four points and grabbed three rebounds in 18 minutes. The Badgers were 10 points better than Maryland when he was on the floor and he was the only UW player to post a positive plus/minus number.

— Senior Trevor Anderson continued his hot shooting from outside to start the season. He went 2-for-2 on 3-pointers and is now 8-for-9 on the year.

— The game snapped Wisconsin’s 15-game home winning streak and its 10-game Big Ten winning streak. It was also the second time a top-10 Badgers squad has lost to an unranked team this year.

What’s next?

Wisconsin (8-2, 2-1) will try to bounce back as they host No. 21 Minnesota (9-1, 2-1) on New Year’s Eve.