“We just have to break down the things that went wrong,” Dez Wells said after Maryland’s blowout loss to D’Angelo Russell and Ohio State. (Jamie Sabau/Getty Images) Following last week’s 19-point loss at Indiana, Maryland’s players relished a quick turnaround against Northwestern 72 hours later. They wanted to bury the loss and leave it in Bloomington, and the players didn’t watch the game film after returning to College Park. But then the Terps almost lost to Northwestern, too, only saving themsleves with a brilliant comeback in the last four minutes. The win culminated in Dez Wells’s game-winning basket in the final seconds, but the prevailing sense after the game was that Maryland had deficiencies to shore up ahead of its game at Ohio State. But those problems persisted on a national stage Thursday in Columbus in a humbling 80-56 loss. Maryland shot 30.5 percent. It was outrebounded by 19. And it never got a handle defensively on freshman standout D’Angelo Russell, who facilitated a precise offensive performance by the Buckeyes. [Related story: Russell, Buckeyes torch Terps in Columbus | Box score] Now it’s “back to the drawing board,” Wells said repeatedly Thursday. The Terps (18-4, 6-3) have six days off to decompress, and unlike last week when they were chomping at the bit to get back into action after a loss, this bye weekend is welcomed. It has been a long, challenging eight-day stretch for Maryland. The emotionally draining win over Northwestern was bookended by two trips to celebrated Big Ten venues, where Maryland lost by a combined 43 points. “We just have to break down the things that we’re doing wrong … we’re still on track to have a good season, so I’m not worried,” Wells said. Maryland will play three of its next five at home, beginning with Penn State (14-7, 2-6) on Wednesday at Xfinity Center. That will kick off a 10-day stretch in which the Terps will travel to Iowa, host a rematch with Indiana and then meet the Nittany Lions in State College on Feb…
Continue Reading: Terps Insider: Maryland basketball ‘back to the drawing board’ after humbling loss at Ohio State
