The Terrapins men’s basketball team’s third conference win arrived swiftly and somewhat quietly Wednesday night. As the Terps put together one of their best all-around performances of the season, the sellout Xfinity Center crowd kept its noise levels measured.
There were few roars when stifling defense held Rutgers to only 18 points in the first half and no outbursts as the buckets poured in for an offense that faced little trouble all night. Instead, the No. 3 Terps beat Rutgers, 88-63, with the type of calm, cool precision that mostly drew applauses of respect and appreciation from the home crowd.
With the victory, the Terps (14-1, 3-0 Big Ten) move to 3-0 in conference play for the first time since the 2001-2002 championship season. But if stats like that made the night an encouraging one for the program, an injury to star guard Melo Trimble gave it an undertone of concern.
After a quiet first half, Trimble came out of the break with a sleeve on his right leg and moved around a bit awkwardly. A team spokesman said it was tightness in his hamstring, and the ailment kept the Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year on the bench for the second half.
Asked about Trimble’s status after the game, coach Mark Turgeon quickly dismissed any potential that the second half sitting was anything more than a precaution.
“Melo’s fine,” Turgeon said simply.
Trimble’s absence didn’t affect the team much in the second half as the Terps pounded the ball into the paint. The Scarlet Knights (6-10, 0-3 Big Ten) came to College Park with only one player on their roster as tall as 6-foot-9 forward Jake Layman and the Terps exploited that size advantage down low throughout the game. Rutgers especially had trouble keeping Layman (18), center Diamond Stone (15) and forward Robert Carter Jr. (12) away from the bucket.
Stone made his first start since Dec. 1 and showed patience and deft hands down low, gathering a rebound or taking multiple attempts up close until an easy lay-in was achieved.
“He’s definitely better than he was last week, he’s definitely better than he was last month and next week I expect him to be better as well,” guard Rasheed Sulaimon said of Stone. “He’s turning the corner.”
In the second half, Layman came alive and ensured a wire-to-wire offensive outpour for the Terps. The senior forward not only found his rhythm from three-point range but also showed some of his most aggressive stints of the season on defense, protecting the rim with some high-energy blocks.
“It’s his activity on defense that’s just been tremendous,” Turgeon said. “He’s playing like a senior, it’s his last go around and he wants to make the most of it.”
Layman finished 3-for-5 from deep, and his 18 points were his most in a game since Dec. 19.
“I’m happy for him so everybody can kind of get off of his back a little bit,” Turgeon said.
The mismatch in the paint also meant the Terps dominated the glass, outrebounding Rutgers, 49-27. Sophomore guard Jared Nickens contributed 10 boards in a solid showing.
“I was just trying to contribute to the game in other ways,” Nickens said. “I’ve been going through sort of a slump, so I just tried to make an impact.”
In what turned into a well-rounded scoring performance from the team, it was Sulaimon getting things going early. Coming off of a 16-point night in Saturday’s win over Northwestern, the senior led the way early for the Terps, scoring seven points in the first five minutes. He finished with 15.
“We have the capability to score in quick bursts like that at any point in the game,” Sulaimon said. “If we trust in our offense and execute, we’re going to shoot the ball at a high rate. The percentages will always even out.”
In Trimble’s absence, reserve guards Varun Ram and Jaylen Brantley kept the offense moving. With a blowout win in hand and the home crowd feeling good, back-to-back threes from Ram provided the loudest moments of the night.
