Huskies Can't Rebound Against Terps, Lose In Final Minute

The UW get handled on the backboards and it costs this team a winnable game.

Wesley Yates III reacts favorably after being fouled on a made 3-point basket, which he converted into a four-point play. | Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

Crossing three time zones, two University of Washington basketball team showed up to play in a cavernous and mostly empty gym at Maryland, but it might as well been a back alley in any questionable neighborhood.

The Huskies emerged without their wallets. Their phones were taken, too. They had nothing to show for their trip into College Park.

Danny Sprinkle's team went 0-for-the final minute, missing five shots to the buzzer, and was left with a 64-60 defeat in a battle of now sub-.500 Big Ten teams.

Andre Mills, a 6-foot-4 guard and Texas A&M transfer, hit a pair of free throws with 55 seconds left and added a lay-in with four seconds remaining to enable Maryland (11-16 overall, 4-12 Big Ten) to escape with a win.

This was a weird one in which the Huskies (13-14, 5-11) came face to face with a connection to their glorious past so far away from home and got absolutely got destroyed in rebounding.

"If you don't rebound, you're not going to win," UW coach Danny Sprinkle said.

The Terps walked away with the victory after enjoying a 36-23 advantage in rebounds, with 6-foot-7 Solomon Washington showing up this visiting Washington team with a game-high 14 boards.

The UW's Hannes Steinbach, the nation's fifth-leading rebounder coming in, had none in the first half and finished with a season-low 3.

Mills topped all scorers with 21 points, while Zoom Diallo led the Huskies with 19.

The Huskies came out ready to play by scoring the first five points of the game when Diallo had a shot goal-tended and Wesley Yates III drained a 3 pointer.

They went up 11-3 and 13-5 as Diallo and Yates combined for 11 points, the latter providing a four-point play when he hit another trey, was fouled and made the free throw.

Huskies forward Lathan Sommerville looks to pass around Maryland forward Elijah Saunders. | Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

At this point, Maryland inserted Isaiah Watts, a 6-foot-3 guard and the son of former Husky great Donald Watts and a former Washington State player, and he provided an early lift to keep things close.

Watts' two free throws at 11:23 of the opening half gave the Terps their first lead at 14-13 and two possessions later he hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to put his team ahead 18-17.

Maryland enjoyed a 34-32 lead at half. By then, the Terps out-rebounded the visitors 17-12, making Hannes go without a carom over for those first 20 minutes. He came in averaging 11.7, which ranked him fifth in the nation.

"They were more physical than us," Sprinkle said.

Zoom Diallo (5) drives to the basket on Terrapins forward Solomon Washington (9). | Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

Into the second half these teams went and stayed within four points of each other all the way to the end.

With 1:26 left, Steinbach hit a difficult foul-line jumper to tie the game at 60.

With fifty-five seconds left, though, Mills was fouled by Quimari Peterson on the drive and hit both foul shots for the game-winning points.

The Huskies had every chance to tie this one to the end, but they just haven't been very good in close games this season and this was no different.

The UW has one more East Coast outing before returning home, playing at Rutgers on Tuesday afternoon in Piscataway, New Jersey.

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