After the Maryland men’s basketball team had finished its initial postgame celebration at midcourt, Bruno Fernando dragged Jalen Smith away from the mob to under the Terps’ basket.
It was the frontcourt duo’s second celebration down the stretch against No. 24 Nebraska. During the first, Smith remained stoic as Fernando shoved him twice in the chest, preparing to complete an and-one after the commotion ended.
The freshman grinned as Fernando embraced him after the final whistle. He’d scored the Terps’ final seven points in their 74-72 win Wednesday, the team’s first over a ranked opponent in nearly three years.
“[Smith] was big-time for us,” Fernando said. “We need a lot more of that from him.”
For much of the game, it had been Fernando dominating the Huskers defense, keeping Maryland in a back-and-forth game that featured 18 ties and 11 lead changes.
But with the game on the line, both teams switched strategies. Fernando had 18 points and 17 rebounds yet didn’t score in the final 10 minutes, as the Huskers began double-teaming him more frequently than they did early in the game.
Maryland turned to Smith, who scored a floater with three seconds left to put the Terps over the top.
“At halftime, the coaches told me that I’m too good to take a backseat to anybody and I can play with anybody on the court,” Smith said. “That pretty much just boosted my confidence.”
For most of the game, the former McDonald’s All-American looked more likely to play goat than hero. He had just three points in nine first-half minutes, his playing time suppressed by an early substitution after he couldn’t corral a defensive rebound.
“He wasn’t very good early, was he?” Turgeon said. “I was chewing on him, the assistants were chewing on him. And he responded.”
Smith’s absence only led to more defensive struggles for the Terps, who allowed guard James Palmer 13 points in the first 11 minutes. Guard Anthony Cowan — who finished with a team-high 19 points — powered a 10-0 run to put Maryland up four late in the half, but the Huskers answered with a 10-2 run of their own that restored a four-point lead at the intermission.
The second half was even more back-and-forth, with flurries of points giving way to sequences where neither team could buy a bucket.
Smith and Fernando scored four quick points out of the break to even the score, and Fernando continued to take advantage of the Huskers not double-teaming him for most of the period.
“We know he’s going to get the ball almost every possession when he’s in the game. So we wanted to just, honestly, mix it up,” Nebraska coach Tim Miles said. “We know he’s a dominant player.”
Maryland opened the second half 1-for-11, but the Huskers were having similar struggles. Turgeon said he felt fortunate to never be trailing by more than eight throughout that stretch.
It only took the Terps a few minutes to erase the deficit, with 3-pointers from Cowan and guard Aaron Wiggins tying the game at 49. From there, neither side led by more than four, and the game was tied at 67 with three minutes left when Smith began his takeover.
First, he finished a transition dunk through contact, sparking Fernando’s enthusiastic shoves. A Palmer steal-and-score put the Huskers on top, but Smith then cleaned up a Cowan miss for a putback bucket that restored a one-point lead.
The game was tied again after Palmer continued the Huskers’ ugly free throw shooting night by splitting a pair with 22 seconds left.
Guard Eric Ayala was dribbling beyond the three-point line when Smith feigned a screen for him, drawing a pair of defenders to the point guard. Smith then rolled toward the basket, and Ayala threaded a pass between the Huskers surrounding him.
Earlier in the half, Smith had created a similar opportunity by pump-faking at the three-point line, getting his defender way out of position. But he tried to drive all the way to the rim, and by the time he got there, forward Isaiah Roby was waiting to draw the charge.
Maryland coach Bino Ranson told Smith he should’ve taken a floater, and he followed that advice with the game on the line, pulling up from the middle of the paint for a right-handed shot that sent the Terps bench into a frenzy.
“He learned from the first time when he charged,” Turgeon said. “We need Stix to play like that.”
