With Maryland essentially playing with its NCAA tournament hopes on the line, the Terps fell apart yet again in the second half in a 78-68 loss to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.
It's just another example of the Terps stumbling on the road, particularly in the second half, in conference play. It's also likely the nail in the coffin for their NCAA tournament hopes. Maryland would have to win their final three regular season games and then at least two in the ACC tournament to even be in the bubble conversation, and after watching them fall to Boston College and Georgia Tech, this is clearly not a team capable of winning five straight conference contests.
After playing so well of late, Nick Faust showed why he is a scorer and not a point guard, turning the ball over eight times in a frustrating night. Maryland really struggled with their outside shooting, knocking home just two three-pointers until hitting a couple more once the game was already decided.
The defense wasn't any better. In fact, it may have been Maryland's worst defensive performance of the season. They surrendered 78 points to a Georgia Tech team that has been offensively challenged all year long. Head coach Brian Gregory intimated as much after the game, saying it was a minor miracle his team scored so many points.
Alex Len finished with 13 points and 9 rebounds before fouling out of the game. Mark Turgeon wasn't happy with how soft Len played against Georgia Tech's big guys, but for once, he was hardly the root of the problem.
Pe'Shon Howard made just two apperances and both were brief. He made some really bad decisions with the basketball and is playing so poorly that Turgeon really can't even afford put him on the court anymore. It's hard to tell if Howard has lost his confidence, is still trying to find his way back from ACL surgery, just isn't a high-major player or some combination of all of that.
Logan Aronhalt has been a savior at times with his outside shooting, but he is a disaster anytime he has to put the ball on the floor. If he is dribbling, a turnover is imminent. When Maryland can't find a way to free him up off screens for open looks, he has little value to the team.
If there was one positive, effort didn't seem to be an issue. Then again, there were more questionable coaching decisions from Turgeon and the team continues to make really dumb mistakes far too often.
Things don't get any easier for Maryland, which must quickly rebound for Saturday's game at Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons have been a much better team at home than on the road, and it will certainy be a tougher challenge than Georgia Tech, which rather easily disposed of the Terps.
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