Michigan falls to Maryland, 77-70

The Michigan Wolverines fell to the Maryland Terrapins on Saturday afternoon at the Crisler Center, 77-70.

Michigan trailed the entire second half. The Terrapins put the nail in the coffin with 48.1 seconds left, as forward Justin Jackson buried a shot over Moritz Wagner to give Maryland a 73-68 edge.

“Justin Jackson, we didn’t guard him very well,’’ said Michigan coach John Beilein. “He got some really good looks. I thought the start of the second half up until six minutes were left we forced them to shoot 38%. We were guarding them. We were trading with them a little bit, but we were right there. The last 6 minutes they went seven of eight. Some of that we couldn’t stop. Some of it was they have great players who made great individual plays. Some of them we’d like to have back.’’

It took awhile for Michigan to get going offensively, as D.J. Wilson and Wagner combined for five points and one rebound during the first half. By the end of the game, the duo logged 30 points and eight rebounds.

The Terrapins (14-2) were led by Jackson with 15 points, six rebounds, and one assist in the victory. Damonte Dodd chipped in 15 points and four rebounds, while Melo Trimble scored nine points.

“Some of their guys made some tough threes, but a lot of them were open threes,’’ said Michigan forward Zak Irvin. “They just played really well. Nickens played well. He came in only shooting 22% behind the arc and he got hot against us.’’

Believe it or not, Jared Nickens went an outstanding 4-for-4 from behind the three-point line and scored 12 points for Maryland. The Terrapins shot 10-for-15 (66.7 percent) from downtown throughout the game, while Michigan only made 8-of-21 (31.8 percent) of triples.

"Jared has been doing great in practice for about six weeks," Maryland coach Mark Turgeon said. "Knew it was a matter of time before he played like that."

Irvin led the Wolverines with 15 points, three rebounds, three assists, one steal, and one block in the losing effort.

Maryland will host Indiana on Tuesday, while Michigan will travel on the road to play Illinois on Wednesday.