After going 1-8 in the Big Ten during the regular season, the Terrapins wrestling team hoped to take advantage of a blank slate in the Big Ten Championships. They hoped to notch some early upsets and gain momentum. But that plan fell flat.

The Terps struggled for much of the day, failing to get revenge on the conference opponents they had struggled against over the past few months. Nine of 10 Terps dropped their opening-round bouts,

The Terps finished the tournament in last place in the conference with a team score of 7.5, even worse than last year’s total of 10.5.

“I’ve been better; it’s tough,” coach Kerry McCoy said. “I think it came down to giving up scores at the wrong time, those mistakes in critical times. You can’t make mistakes in this tournament when your opponent is often better.”

Even after the opening round, the Terps struggled in their consolation-bracket matches, with only 133-pound Geoffrey Alexander moving on to the second day.

After defeating Indiana’s Alonzo Shepherd, 9-0, in the first round, Alexander advanced to the quarterfinals to face No. 5-seed Eric Montoya. Yet almost three months after defeating Montoya, 6-2, in College Park, Alexander couldn’t top him and suffered a 6-3 loss.

Alexander rebounded in his first consolation match, earning a 6-0 win over Purdue’s 133-pound Luke Welch. In the next round, he fell, 6-0, to Rutgers’ Anthony Giraldo. Still, Alexander secured an automatic qualification for his fourth career NCAA Tournament.

He took the mat again Sunday in a battle for seventh place with Ohio State’s Johnni DiJulius, who scored a takedown in the first minute en route a 19-2 major decision loss.

Alexander’s co-captains, 141-pound Alfred Bannister and 157-pound Lou Mascola, didn’t stick around as long. In Bannister’s opening bout, he jumped out to a 5-1 lead before No. 4-seed Jameson Oster of Northwestern seized control in a 9-5 win.

In the consolation bracket, Bannister got a 4-2 win over Indiana’s Tommy Cash. But his tournament run was ended by Nebraska’s Anthony Abidin.

Mascola, a 2015 NCAA qualifier, stuck close to Brandon Kingsley of Minnesota in his first match until a four-point near fall put the match out of reach. In the consolation bracket, Mascola dropped his first match, 10-4.

“He had a lot of stuff in his head,” McCoy said. “I don’t think his mindset was in the right place.”

Now, Mascola will have to wait for the NCAA Tournament brackets to be released Wednesday to see if he earned an at-large bid. McCoy said he’s unsure whether Mascola’s season will continue.

The Terps’ freshmen struggled mightily. At 149 pounds, Wade Hodges fell, 11-5, to Minnesota’s Jake Short. Next, 165-pound Brendan Burnham fell, 14-5, and heavyweight Youssif Hemida dropped his bout, 15-4.

Hodges’ season ended with a loss in the next match, but Burnham and Hemida each earned a win in the consolation bracket. Both fell in their next matches, though.

“They’re making strides for the most part,” McCoy said. “They had a good experience and it helps them realize everything makes a difference, especially in wrestling.”

Despite lofty goals, no Terp was able to build much momentum during the weekend. Wrestling at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in front of 16,000 fans isn’t easy, Alexander said. It doesn’t make it any easier when everyone else is losing.

“When you come out, you try to feed off everyone’s energy,” Alexander said. “But it’s hard to feed off losses; it wears you out. This tournament is difficult; it never ends.”