It was odd to see Maryland’s Dez Wells run off the floor and find a place on the bench with only 12 seconds left in Saturday’s Big Ten semifinal against Michigan State. It was the time of the game that has come to define Wells as a cold-blooded closer, the embodiment of a team that simply didn’t know what it felt like to lose a close game.
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Wells finally experienced that feeling as he arrived at Maryland’s bench, watching the final seconds of a 62-58 loss tick away. It was the first time since early February that the team had lost and the first time this season that the Terrapins had lost in a game decided by six points or fewer, a painful setback only accentuated by a blown 16-point lead.
“It had the feel of [an NCAA tournament game],” said Wells, who finished with 10 points. “It’s not about it being our day. They were the better team today.”
The Washington Post says, Wells later retreated to the United Center locker room after the final buzzer and sat in silence between swigs of a sports drink, trying to keep perspective. He later filed out with the team to begin the journey back to College Park, where Maryland will officially celebrate on Sunday its first NCAA berth in five years.
“This has been great for us,” Maryland Coach Mark Turgeon said. “It’s going to prepare us for what lies ahead next week.”
It will be a special time for the program. The Terps are projected to be as high as a No.3 seed, although the team had hoped to break into the discussion of a possible No. 2 seed had it beaten the Spartans. It was looking promising, too. Wells delivered a menacing dunk within the first minute, and Melo Trimble (22 points) scored 13 points within the first seven minutes as the Terps built a 23-7 lead.
The first two meetings between the teams had provided two of Maryland’s high points: a two-point, double-overtime victory in East Lansing, Mich., in the Terrapins’ league debut Dec. 30, then a 16-point rout less than three weeks later in College Park fueled by Trimble’s scintillating performance.
Trimble had 21 points in the first half of that game — and he enjoyed a similar start Saturday. He nailed a deep three-pointer in transition seconds into the game, then made two more threes in the next six minutes. Less than seven minutes in, Maryland held a 10-point lead and Trimble had single-handedly outscored the Spartans, 13-7.
At one point during that hot start, when the crowd grew quiet during a stoppage in play, one Maryland fan sitting in the lower level taunted Michigan State by yelling, “Melo Trimble is better than you.”
Michigan State guard Travis Trice was within earshot of that jab, and he played as if he had heard it. He also had 13 points in the first half as Michigan State slowly rallied, including a three-pointer in front of Maryland’s bench near the end of the half that made it 31-25.
After his early burst, Trimble didn’t score again until nearly 15 minutes were gone in the second half, and Maryland missed eight of its first nine shots after intermission. Michigan State broke through after a dunk by Marvin Clark Jr. and a three-pointer by Denzel Valentine to take a 38-36 lead with just under 13 minutes to play.
“I just missed shots,” Trimble said. “I mean, that’s part of basketball.”
For several minutes Maryland responded as if it relished the position it was in, another close game for the taking. Wells, whom Trice had labeled as the key to the game the night before, responded with consecutive layups to put the Terps up, 43-40, with just over 10 minutes remaining.
Trimble missed nine shots in a row before the final minutes, and Maryland again went to Wells trailing 51-48 with about three minutes remaining. Wells made it a one-point game with a hook shot, but Michigan State used its bruising front line to attack at every chance.
The Spartans took a 54-50 lead on a technical foul shot following an Evan Smotrycz flagrant foul in transition with about two minutes remaining, and on the ensuing possession, Branden Dawson slammed home an alley-oop to push the lead to six.
Then guard Lourawls Nairn Jr. came up with a steal and drew a foul on Wells in transition, and the Maryland senior could do nothing but plead his case. He argued with the official, screaming in as heated of a moment as he’s been in this season.
Nairn hit one free throw to make it a seven-point game, and Turgeon pulled Wells shortly after. The senior nodded to his coach as he walked off the floor, knowing that everything is still in front of his team.
“I’m proud of my guys, what they’ve done this season, through the conference play. We’ve exceeded our expectations,” Wells said. “But now we’re focused on the NCAA tournament.”
