STATE COLLEGE, Pa. _ The first half of the Big Ten season could not have gone any better for the Maryland men's basketball team. Except for the final eight minutes of a loss to Nebraska on New Year's Day, everything went right for the Terps.
The second half of the Big Ten season could not have started any worse.
Hoping to recover from a one-point loss Saturday at home against No. 23 Purdue _ a game Mark Turgeon's team gave away with what he called "silly fouls" in the final 38 seconds _ the No. 21 Terps played their worst game in more than two months and lost here to Penn State, 70-64, on Tuesday.
The defeat before a sparse crowd at the Bryce Jordan will likely drop Maryland (20-4, 8-3) out of the top 25, regardless of what happens Saturday at home against Ohio State.
Freshman forward Justin Jackson scored 14 points, all in the second half. Freshman wing Kevin Huerter added 12. Junior guard Melo Trimble had 11, but only one point in the second half.
While Maryland's three freshmen starters struggled for much of the game _ Jackson, Huerter and Anthony Cowan combined to shoot 7-of-23 _ freshman forward Lamar Stevens led Penn State (13-12, 5-7) with 25 points and freshman guard Tony Carr added 14
It is the first time all season the Terps have lost two consecutive games. It was also their first road loss in the Big Ten this season after five straight victories. Unlike most of the previous five road games, Maryland came out flat and never seemed to get in sync at either end of the floor.
If not for Trimble, who hit four of his first seven shots, Maryland would have trailed by more than the six they did at halftime. The Terps shot poorly (the rest of the team was 6-of-23), were careless with the ball (nine turnovers) and kept sending the Nittany Lions to the free throw line (Penn State was 13-of-16 there by halftime).
Trimble went cold in the second half, missing all six shots he took. Unlike so many games this season when Maryland woke up in the second half and turned things around quickly, the Terps didn't recover Tuesday. They fell behind by as many as 14, and could not get any closer than four late in the game.
After a miss by the Nittany Lions led to a fastbreak, Trimble fed redshirt junior forward Ivan Bender for what should have been a dunk or easy layup. But Bender short-armed the shot, and the comeback stalled. The Terps also hurt themselves by shooting just 17-of-27 from the free throw line.
Maryland got to within four, 62-58, on a 3-point shot by junior guard Jaylen Brantley with 3:24 left. Penn State seemed to be ready for a collapse, but freshman guard Nazeer Bostic got an offensive rebound and layup to pus the lead back to six.
The Terps finished the game shooting 20-of-59 from the field (34 percent), including 7-of-26 on 3-pointers. The Nittany Lions were 21-of-49, and did much of their damage inside, taking advantage of their size on Maryland's smaller guards. Penn State shot just 2-of-18 on 3-pointers.
The two-game losing streak will certainly raise questions about Maryland fading during the second half of the season for a second straight year. Last season, the Terps started 22-3, including 10-2 in the Big Ten, before dropping four of their last six regular season games.
Tuesday was the first time the Terps lost to Penn State since joining the Big Ten. Turgeon said he viewed the Nittany Lions as talented and dangerous _ if young _ evidenced by their win over Michigan State last month at the Palestra in Philadelphia.
Penn State came in off two straight losses _ one in triple-overtime at Indiana and another Saturday to last-place Rutgers.
Maryland will now have some work to do to have a chance at winning the Big Ten, a possibility that seems remote after Tuesday.
