Maryland built a bond over five-day road trip that ended with upset win

Looking back at the five-day road trip now, Maryland coach Mark Turgeon can appreciate the strides his team made. Sure, there was that upset win over No. 6 Wisconsin on Monday night, a tangible sign that the Terrapins have the talent to compete in big games.

But traveling together over the Christmas period, on planes and buses and inside hotels whenever they weren’t on a basketball court, gave the Terrapins an opportunity to mesh — one they didn’t get this summer and fall because of the coronavirus outbreak.

“I was mad at the Big Ten for doing this to us, putting us out on Christmas Eve and keeping us on the road,” Turgeon said. “It’s actually probably the best thing to happen to us. We really grew in the last five days.”

After a Christmas Day loss to Purdue in which Maryland made just 10 of 21 free throws, the team looked revitalized in Monday’s win over the Badgers. The Terrapins made 80% of their foul shots and converted at a 64% clip from the field in the second half. Plus, there was energy on both ends of the floor and even more from the bench, a buoy at the end of a close game.

The chemistry built on the road trip may have played a part in helping Maryland to its first road win against a top-10 team since 2008.

“It’s obviously just brought us a lot closer, it’s brought us together,” guard Aaron Wiggins said. “Being all around each other, we had to grow, we had to really treat each other like family. I think it’s really good for us. We got to know the ins-and-outs of each other.”

Maryland, as well as every other team in the country, missed out on valuable practice time over the summer and fall.

Turgeon worked to introduce new players over Zoom calls, and at one point practices were halted because a few players contracted the coronavirus.

The season started well, though, even without last year’s team leaders, forward Jalen Smith and guard Anthony Cowan. The Terrapins showed off their scoring depth in four straight blowout wins to open the campaign.

Then the issues began to surface, first in a big loss to Clemson and another to Rutgers to open Big Ten play.

Without a clear rim protector, Turgeon has turned to using smaller lineups. Initially, that allowed the Scarlet Knights’ Myles Johnson and other big men to have their way down low.

But even the Christmas Day loss to Purdue showed improvements were being made.

And against Wisconsin, Maryland’s Donta Scott, Jairus Hamilton and Darryl Morsell battled with players with significant height advantages — yet the Terrapins hung in there.

“We hadn’t beaten anybody good, and I knew we were getting better,” Turgeon said. “So we believed. We believed at Purdue we were going to come back and win; we came up short. We believed tonight we were going to win the game, and that’s where we’ve really changed the most, just our toughness physically and our toughness mentally.”

Wisconsin toppled then-No. 12 Michigan State on Christmas Day, viewed as a marquee win in the toughest conference in the country. But the Spartans then laid an egg Monday against a previously unranked Minnesota squad that jumped to No. 21 after a win against No. 4 Iowa last week.

Maryland received votes for the Top 25 earlier in the year, before dropping matchups to Clemson and Rutgers. Monday’s win might put the Terrapins back in the conversations, but with imposing teams throughout the Big Ten, one win won’t make a season. They host No. 16 Michigan on Thursday, for instance.

The team views the road trip over Christmas as a turning point.

That’s what five straight days of NBA 2K tournaments on PlayStation and team dinners can do.

“Trips like this build that comfort level around each other,” guard Eric Ayala said. “Even with the coaches, seeing them every day, we kind of build a bond.”