Maryland’s offensive woes continue in Big Ten opener against Rutgers

The Terps (4-2, 0-1) shot just 34.4 percent from the field against the Scarlet Knights’ strong defense, including just 20 percent from three-point range (4 for 20). Rutgers (5-0, 1-0) hit 9 of 19 shots from three-point range and shot 48.3 percent overall. Maryland played well enough defensively and created open looks, but the Terps couldn’t hit enough shots to keep up.

“They made shots,” Maryland Coach Mark Turgeon said. “They banked in shots. We didn’t make shots, and we’re still right there against a really good team. We’ve got to get our confidence up. I’ve got to coach them a little bit better. But we played better tonight than we did at Clemson.”

Maryland led 28-27 at halftime but found itself down 55-41 with about 11 minutes to play before Donta Scott, a sophomore forward from Philadelphia who has recently emerged as one of Maryland’s best players, worked to lead a comeback effort. He hit three shots from beyond the arc in the second half and finished with a career-high 20 points, including 13 in the second half. His eight rebounds matched senior guard Darryl Morsell for the team high.

“A loss is a loss,” Scott said. “And we’ve just got to come back stronger next game. Me more than anybody, I just want to win, no matter if I have a fantastic game and I score this amount of points, or this person scored this amount of points. I just want to win.”

Maryland twice trimmed its deficit to seven, but with only one other player scoring in double figures — junior guard Eric Ayala with 12 points — the Terps were unable to keep pace.

Rutgers entered Monday with three guards averaging at least 16 points — Ron Harper Jr. (22.3), Baltimore native Montez Mathis (16.3) and Jacob Young (16.0). Harper led the group against the Terps, scoring 27 points, including 19 in the second half. He made 10 of his 17 attempts from the field.

“He was a problem,” Ayala said. “He was filling it up throughout the night.”

Geo Baker, the Scarlet Knights’ star point guard, injured his ankle in the season opener and had not played since, but he returned Monday and finished with 15 points in 28 minutes off the bench.

The Terps began the game making only four of their first 17 shots, including five misses from three-point range. Rutgers exposed Maryland’s lack of an interior presence and leaned on that weakness to generate a 10-0 run during the first half, with all of those points coming from close-range shots and dunks.

Maryland responded in the final six minutes before halftime. The Terps’ zone defense stifled the visitors, who made only 1 of 11 field goal attempts to close the half. With less than two minutes to go, Maryland forced turnovers on back-to-back possessions. Ayala missed a three-pointer after the first one, but then Scott’s steal gave Morsell an easy dunk in transition. Turgeon called a timeout to set up his team’s offensive possession with 25 seconds left, and Scott hit a go-ahead jumper with five seconds to go. Morsell fouled as Rutgers attempted to find a quick shot, but Jacob Young missed the front end of a one-and-one, allowing Maryland to hang on to its one-point lead at halftime.

But the Terps could not keep the momentum; their offense struggled for the second straight game against a quality opponent. Despite committing just nine turnovers, Maryland couldn’t answer when Rutgers made a second-half push.

“You’ve got to give them a little credit, but you’ve got to just be like, ‘Okay, we just didn’t make some open ones,’ ” Turgeon said. “Really, you make three in that stretch [late in the game], it’s a down-to-the-wire game. But we didn’t. Every time we made a play, they answered it.”

Turgeon said his team shot nearly 50 percent from three-point range in a recent practice. But in the game, he couldn’t get enough production beyond Scott. Junior guard Aaron Wiggins has been dealing with an elbow injury, and he scored only six points. Morsell also had six points on 3-for-13 shooting. And just a couple of weeks ago, albeit against easier opponents, Maryland looked like a well-rounded team that could generate offense from across the roster.

“It’s in us,” Turgeon said. “I just have to do a better job day-to-day and just giving the guys confidence. Once they get it and are more confident, then we’re going to play better.”