Maryland nearly reached its emotional breaking point with less than two minutes left Thursday night in its showdown against third-ranked Iowa. Clinging to a two-point lead, Robert Carter Jr. was called for his fifth foul. Maryland's bench erupted. Players grabbed their hair. Terrapins Coach Mark Turgeon called time out a few moments later, wading deep onto the court to express his displeasure with an official.
While assistant coaches fenced Turgeon off, Carter knew exactly what he had to do. His sensational night, which included a game-high 17 points, seven rebounds and four assists , wasn't over yet. In perhaps his most important contribution in Maryland's 74-68 win, Carter huddled his teammates together and told them to move on without him.
“He was very demonstrative in telling us, ‘We’re going to win this game,’ ” said Maryland guard Rasheed Sulaimon, who added 17 points. “In that huddle, Coach didn’t really even have to say anything.”
Xfinity Center, which hosted its first matchup between top 10 teams, was ringing with boos by the time Maryland came out of the timeout. What happened in the next 23 seconds may have changed the Terrapins’ season. After Turgeon’s designed set resulted in a dunk from Diamond Stone to put Maryland up, 64-60, Terps forward Jake Layman picked up a steal and fed sophomore forward Jared Nickens for a layup in transition to give the Terrapins some crucial cushion.
When he finally knew it was over, an exhausted Sulaimon just turned to the student section and pointed to his midsection. Against Iowa, Sulaimon knew he and the rest of his teammates would have to show the kind of guts the Terrapins hadn’t shown yet this season. In a heart-pounding, stomach-churning affair, the Terps turned in one of their most complete performances of the season.
“I was really proud of my team. I was proud of the fans. It was a great crowd, great energy,” Turgeon said. “I thought we showed some toughness in the second half.”
While Sulaimon and Carter carried the offensive load, they received plenty of help. Layman and guard Melo Trimble finished with 11 points each and Stone added nine in his first start in two weeks.
In danger of losing a second straight game and falling further back in the Big Ten standings, No. 8 Maryland instead responded with its 14th consecutive league win at home. After struggling on the boards and with transition defense in a loss to Michigan State last week, Maryland outrebounded the Hawkeyes, 38-35, and only allowed Iowa’s high-octane offense to score two fast break points.
“Coach did a great job with the scouting report,” Sulaimon said, “and we actually followed it this time.”
Layman shadowed Jarrod Uthoff for much of the first 20 minutes, pestering the lanky Hawkeyes star with his 6-foot-9 frame. Uthoff, who entered Thursday night’s game leading the Big Ten in scoring (18 points per game) and a favorite to take home the league’s player of the year honors, looked jittery early. While Iowa’s up-tempo system kept stride with Maryland’s pace, Uthoff missed all five of his field goals in the first half and made little impact on the boards.
Uthoff’s first field goal didn’t come until nearly 22 minutes in, on a rebound putback that gave Iowa its first points of the second half. He finished with nine points on 2-of-13 shooting.
Iowa took a 50-49 lead with just more than eight minutes remaining on a finish from senior center Adam Woodbury, which came as Maryland endured foul trouble in the front court and trudged through a scoring drought that lasted nearly three minutes. Maryland retook the lead on a jumper from Carter with 6:45 remaining, and Sulaimon followed with a steal and a circus reverse layup in transition to push the lead to 55-52.
Sulaimon added another up-and-under finish to give his team a two point-lead, and Damonte Dodd extended it to 60-56 with 4:34 remaining after finishing a pair of free throws following two offensive rebounds. After Woodbury picked up his fifth foul on a hard screen on Sulaimon with 2:47 remaining, Carter followed suit a minute later after getting tangled up with Iowa point guard Mike Gesell.
That incited a loud round of boos from the Xfinity Center crowd, which only turned to jubilation a few moments later after back-to-back baskets from Stone and Nickens pushed the lead to 66-60 with 79 seconds remaining. After Carter provided guidance in the huddle, Sulaimon said later that it was the kind of span that Maryland may look back on as a turning point in the season.
“I was trying to get everybody’s focus off me, rather on the win,” Carter said. “I was just trying to keep everybody calm.”
