COLUMBUS, OHIO — Mark Turgeon and his Maryland men's basketball team have tried hard not to compare this season to last year. Until Thursday night, there was really no need, as the 2014-15 Terps had already won more games (18 of the first 21) than the 2013-14 Terps (17-15) did the entire season.
But if anyone watched Maryland play at Ohio State in last season's ACC-Big Ten Challenge and then saw what happened to the 16th-ranked Terps in the same arena Thursday night, without paying attention to what had transpired in between, they might come to a startling conclusion.
Maryland actually looked worse in Thursday's 80-56 loss to Ohio State than it did last year in a 76-60 defeat to the then-No. 5 Buckeyes.
In the teams' game a year ago, the Terps got off to a reasonably good start offensively before getting worn down late in the first half and blown out in the second half. They fell behind by as many as 25 points in what was one of Maryland's worst performances of a largely disappointing season.
On Thursday night, the Terps started slowly on offense, played reasonably well on defense for the first 15 minutes – particularly against Buckeyes freshman guard D'Angelo Russell – and even made a bit of a run toward the end of the first half when it looked as if they were going to get blown out before halftime.
But the blowout was on for much of the second half.
Russell showed off all facets of his game in an 18-point, 14-rebound, six-assist performance that demonstrated why he is ready for the NBA while Maryland freshman Melo Trimble has still a ways to go (which might be the only positive takeaway from this game). Trimble finished with a season-low three points.
Let's compare the stats between the two games for Maryland:
A year ago, the Terps shot 39.1 percent (25 of 64) from the field and missed 16 of their 18 3-point shots. On Thursday, Maryland shot 30.1 percent (18 of 59) from the field and made nine of 26 of its 3-pointers.
A year ago, the Terps outrebounded the Buckeyes, 44-30. On Thursday, they were destroyed on the boards, 51-32.
There were some unfortunate similarities.
A year ago, forward Jake Layman missed all five of his 3-point shots in a 1-for-9 shooting night. On Thursday, Layman missed four of five of his 3-point shots in a 4 of 12 shooting night.
A year ago, third-string freshman center Damonte Dodd went scoreless in eight minutes. On Thursday, as a starter who has regressed dramatically in recent weeks, Dodd went scoreless in six minutes.
A year ago, Dez Wells led the Terps with 19 points, most of coming after the Buckeyes were way ahead. On Thursday, he led the Terps with 12 points, nine in the first half. Moot points all.
A year ago, then-sophomore forward LaQuinton Ross went off on the Terps, hitting four of his six 3-point shots in a seven of 13 performance that resulted in a game-high 20 points. On Thursday, sophomore forward Marc Loving hit all five of his 3-pointers in a game-high 19-point performance.
A year ago, Maryland went into Value City Arena riding a four-game winning streak that included a championship in the Paradise Jam tournament. This time, they were coming in off Sunday's thrilling comeback against Northwestern, which was capped off by an off-balance bank follow by Wells with a little over a second left.
We'll see if these Terps react differently. A year ago, Maryland left Ohio State with its confidence clearly shaken. Four days later, the Terps lost to George Washington at Verizon Center on a buzzer-beater. This time, Turgeon's team has six days off before it plays Penn State at home.
"We got to back to the drawing board and remember what got us to this point," Wells said. "I'm still confident. We've just got to break down the things we're doing wrong and all the mistakes we're making right now, they're all correctable. We're still on track to have a good season so I'm not worried."
Many longtime Maryland fans can remember 2000-01, when the Terps were booed off the court at Cole Field House after losing to Florida State and went on to reach their first Final Four.
This isn't to say that Maryland will be playing at Lucas Oil Stadium in April, but who thought the Terps would be 18-4 overall and 6-3 in the Big Ten at the halfway point of conference play?
Senior forward Evan Smotrycz can recall his experience at Michigan as a sophomore in 2011-12, when the Wolverines shared the Big Ten regular season title at 13-5 with Ohio State and Michigan State. Of the five losses, three were by double digits, including a 16-point defeat at Value City Arena.
"It happens if you don't bring it one night, teams are good enough where they'll get confident and run it," Smotrycz said. "We're embarassed, so we'll get back to work."
The Terps have long forgotten about last year.
We'll see how long it takes for them to put Thursday's debacle out of their minds.