Maryland men’s basketball outlasts UNLV, 74-67, in Players Era tournament

Maryland men’s basketball fans had every right to fear an extended absence of big man Pharrel Payne.

The senior was taken off in a stretcher in the team’s contest against Marquette just a week and a half ago with a lower body injury. But it didn’t take long for him to come back and give the Terps exactly what they needed.

On a night that Maryland attempted 31 3-pointers, Payne was the steadying presence it needed to forge a second half comeback. He notched a team-high 16 points on 5-of-5 shooting in the latter frame, and perhaps none were bigger than his energetic putback and-one to give the Terps an eight-point lead with just over two minutes left.

On an overall sloppy, 20-turnover night, Maryland snuck away with a 74-67 victory over UNLV.

Missed shots characterized the early minutes. While the pace of the game was speedy, neither offense really found a rhythm. In the first three and a half minutes, Maryland went just 2-of-6 from the field with a pair of turnovers, while UNLV was a dismal 1-of-8.

That careless basketball from Maryland provided the only early spark for the Rebels, as an errant Andre Mills dish led to an alley-oop on the other end.

In his early minutes returning from injury, Pharrel Payne wasn’t nearly as featured as he had been in the team’s first few games. Sporting a brace on his right knee, it took him 11 minutes to score his first points.

Instead, the Terps’ offense was perimeter-focused. Isaiah Watts and Diggy Coit cashed in Maryland’s first two 3-pointers, but that was all the team could muster from downtown in the first eight minutes — on eight attempts.

The turnover bug only continued. The Terps incurred seven giveaways in the opening eight minutes. On multiple occasions, Maryland tried to sneak in passes to Payne in the paint, but UNLV’s active hands calmly whisked away possession and turned up court.

Payne flashed the dominance Maryland fans were accustomed to near the seven-minute mark of the first half, skying high for a dunk before retreating to the other end of the court and leaping up for a rejection.

But even his explosive plays couldn’t get the Terps into a rhythm. With six minutes left in the frame, Maryland upped its turnover total to a staggering 14. And on the subsequent play, the Rebels regained the lead with a triple.

Rapid ball movement didn’t help Maryland either, despite most of its clean possessions ending in an open 3-pointer. The Terps finished the opening half 3-of-15 from deep. The Terps’ desire to stay outside the arc limited their chances for easy points at the free throw line, something head coach Buzz Williams has consistently pointed to as a focal point of the team’s attack.

So while Maryland found itself in the bonus with seven minutes left in the period, it ended up shooting just 2-of-4 from the charity stripe in the opening 20 minutes.

Myles Rice sank a 3-pointer on Maryland’s last possession of the half, but the Terps still trailed the Rebels, 30-27.

UNLV’s two quick 3-pointers to open the second half helped it to open up a seven-point lead. But Maryland didn’t shy away from its own downtown shots. Darius Adams hit two confident corner 3-pointers, a good sign for the true freshman that has struggled to find his range through the team’s first five games.

On the contrary, Coit struggled from beyond the arc after a red-hot performance against Mount St. Mary’s. Each of his first eight shots were from deep, and he only made the one early on.

Through just the first eight minutes of the second frame, Maryland amassed as many free throws as it had in the entire first half. And that aggressiveness, combined with the team’s increased output from beyond the arc, provided the formula for the Terps to briefly take the lead with 10 minutes left — their first advantage since the seven-minute mark of the first half.

Suddenly, it was UNLV that couldn’t find the basket. Inside eight minutes left, it suffered through an over-four minute scoring drought, turning the ball over much like Maryland had in the game’s first 30 minutes. As the Terps slowly cleaned up their act, the Rebels only muddied theirs.

Two late threes by Coit helped to calm the Terps and extend the lead, which they held throughout the final buzzer. Maryland won’t have any time for rest, however — it’s back in action tomorrow night against surging No. 12 Gonzaga.

Three things to know

1. Second half cleanup. Maryland reversed both its ugly play and shooting struggles in the second period. The Terps shot just 11-of-31 in the first half, and turned the ball over a remarkable 15 times. But the second half was a different story — Maryland shot 50% from the field and turned the ball over just five times. Perhaps most importantly, it also shot 17 free throws, a sign of increased aggression as the game drew on.

2. Winning the bench battle. Heading into the contest, UNLV was decimated by injuries and had just one healthy big at its disposal. But Maryland played nine players Monday, and all except Collin Metcalf recorded at least one point — Metcalf played just two minutes. The Terps ultimately outscored the Rebels off the bench, 28-24, but that figure was exacerbated by garbage time.

3. Alston shows potential. Aleks Alston hit each of his three shots off the bench in the first half and led the team in scoring after 20 minutes. He continues to display a crafty touch with the basketball, especially in the midrange, and at 6-foot-10, he’s a versatile defender that Williams can use to guard multiple positions. Alston also grabbed six boards on the night.

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