Men’s Basketball

In search of their first statement road win this season, Northwestern fell way short at Maryland on Saturday, falling 73-57 to the Terrapins.

Maryland (17-10, 6-8 Big Ten) came out hot and never let up, taking a 28-14 lead in the first half and opening the second half on a 7-0 run. Forward Kevin Huerter led the hosts with 22 points. Huerter hit his first three shots from behind the arc as NU’s zone struggled to close out on the red-headed sharpshooter.

The Wildcats (15-11, 6-7) were led by senior guard Scottie Lindsey, who had 20 points. Lindsey made eight of his 20 shots, including a couple deep, contested 3-pointers that kept NU in the game. Bryant McIntosh struggled offensively, scoring a season-low zero points and dropping only one dime.

Takeaways

1. Maryland carved up the zone. The Terrapins shot 43 percent from 3-point range, making seven of their first ten shots from deep. Huerter led the way, but he had support from guards Anthony Cowan and Dion Wiley, who combined to shoot 5-for-11 from deep. Many of the hosts’ looks came from almost NBA range, but such marksmanship is to be expected from the Terrapins, who shot 39 percent on 3-pointers coming into game.

2. The bench still isn’t scoring a lot. Even while winning four of the previous five games, NU’s bench struggled has to score. The Cats have tallied only 18 bench points across the past three games. Against Maryland, the Cats’ bench put up 12, but eight came from redshirt sophomore forward Aaron Falzon. While Lindsey and fellow senior guard Bryant McIntosh have poured in their share of points, Falzon has made significant scoring contributions off the bench. The sophomore is responsible for 14 of those 18 bench points over that stretch, and had 8 on Saturday.

3. Northwestern is still missing that signature road win. The Wildcats have only three true road wins on the year — DePaul, Minnesota and Wisconsin — and none of those teams are above .500 in conference play. Eight of NU’s 11 losses have come away from Allstate Arena this season. The three road losses at Georgia Tech, Penn State and Indiana have been emblematic of a disappointing season for the Cats.

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