ORLANDO, Fla. _ Maryland men's basketball coach Mark Turgeon talked all week about changing the narrative, about his young team regaining the confidence and consistency it showed during a program-best 20-2 start to the season.
In the end, all Maryland did was change the opponent, the city and the venue Thursday night.
A week after getting bounced out of the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals by Northwestern with a second-half collapse, sixth-seeded Maryland saw its season close with a similar storyline in a 76-65 loss to 11th-seeded Xavier in the NCAA Tournament's Round of 64 at Amway Center.
With the Terps leading by six points early in the second half after holding Musketeers star Trevon Bluiett in check in the first half, they watched the junior guard heated up and lead Xavier (22-13) on a 21-4 run that was similar to the 20-2 run by the Wildcats. The Terps went scoreless for 4:57 at one point during the run.
While Maryland showed a little more heart by cutting a pair of 11-point deficits to six on a free throw by junior guard Melo Trimble with 2:47 to go, but could not get any closer. It was the seventh loss in the past 11 games for Maryland (24-9).
It was also the first loss in the opening game of the NCAA Tournament for the Terps since they fell to the College of Charleston in Memphis in 1997 after a streak of 14 straight victories.
More significantly, it could also signal the end of Trimble's Maryland career.
If it was and Trimble decides to forego his senior year, he finished it on a down note, with 13 points on 5-for-15 shooting, including just 1-for-9 on 3-pointers. Freshman guard Kevin Huerter led the Terps with 19 points and freshman forward Justin Jackson had 14.
As they did early in the season and again late in the season, the Terps struggled against Xavier's zone defense. They also got little from their bench, outscored 30-13 by Xavier's reserves.
Bluiett led Xavier with 21 points, including 18 in the second half. Reserve center Sean O'Mara added a career-high 18. The Musketeers will meet the winner of Thursday night's second Round of 64 game between third-seeded Florida State and 14th-seeded Florida Gulf Coast.
Leading by two points at halftime and by as many as six after hitting their first two shots of the second half, the Terps watched as Bluiett heated up for Xavier. After scoring just three points in the first half, Bluiett hit his first six shots of the second, four of them 3-pointers.
The first part of that stretch helped the Musketeers take a 52-50 lead and extended it to 55-50, leading to a Maryland timeout with 10:43 left in the game. Similar to last week's loss to Northwestern, the Terps failed to get off a shot after a timeout.
Bluiett then buried another 3-pointer, and did the same to Maryland's season.
Trimble, whose last two drives ended with a miss at the rim and a turnover, failed to hold onto a pass for another turnover. The Musketeers hit another 3-pointer, this time by reserve forward Kaiser Gates for a 61-50 lead.
Maryland survived cold shooting at the start of the game, including three different droughts of at least three minutes, and some unexpected offense from the Xavier bench with great defense in the last five minutes of the first half to take a 36-35 lead at halftime.
Trailing by as many as nine points, 17-8, after missing 10 of their first 13 shots overall and seven of their first eight 3-pointers, the Terps clawed their way back into the game. O'Mara and Gates gave Xavier a huge boost.
Starting a run with a 3-pointer by reserve guard Jaylen Brantley, Maryland pulled to within two, 17-15 on four straight free throws by Huerter. After the Musketeers stretched their lead back to eight, 24-16, with the help of two straight 3-pointers by Gates, who came into the game shooting 32.4 percent for the season.
But the Terps suddenly picked up their offense, and it led to some of the best defense Maryland has played of late. Trailing 28-23 after two free throws by O'Mara, who doubled his 5.5 scoring average with 11 first-half points, Huerter hit a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to two, 30-28.
After freshman guard Anthony Cowan tied the game at 30 on a pair of free throws, the Musketeers ran off five straight points, including Bluiett's first _ and only _ made shot of the half, a wide-open 3-pointer from the corner on which the Terps missed a defensive rotation.
Turgeon called timeout, frustrated with both the officials and his team.
The Terps must have got the message from their coach during the timeout. Maryland scored the last six points of the first half, a 3-pointer by Jackson and a steal and layup by Trimble with 16 seconds left in the half.
Jackson, who has struggled offensively for much of the past month, finished the half with 10 points, while Huerter added nine points and three assists. Trimble had seven points, but more importantly, no turnovers. The Terps finished the half shooting 11-for-27 overall and 5-for-16 from beyond the arc.
Similar to last week's loss to Northwestern, when the Terps trailed by as many as 10 in the first half and took a two-point lead at halftime, Maryland scored the first two times it had the ball in the second half, on a lob layup by Huerter and a pull-up jumper by Trimble.
That's when Bluiett heated up to send the Terps to an early exit.
