How Maryland basketball came back from a 7-point deficit in under a minute to beat Georgetown

It took Maryland basketball more than 18 minutes of real time to come back from a seven-point deficit in the final minute and 18 seconds of game time to beat Georgetown, 76-75 on Tuesday night.

The ending to this game made just about no sense. The close highlighted some of Mark Turgeon’s good coaching, some smart plays by his team and a helping of slop from the Hoyas.

The Terps' used some extremely quick whistles to their advantage down the stretch and Anthony Cowan in particular found ways to get to the line without time ticking off the clock.

Let’s look back and try to understand what went so well for Maryland at the end of this game.

Score: Georgetown 70 - Maryland 63
Time: 1:12

L.J. Peak drove to the rim easily to give the Hoyas a seven-point lead that should’ve ended this one. Should’ve.

Score: Georgetown 70 - Maryland 66
Time: 54.4

Cowan pushes the ball down court and quickly finds his way into the paint. It looks like he’s trapped, but he finds Kevin Huerter on the wing for just his third shot of the night and second make. Maryland is in within range now.

Score: Georgetown 72 - Maryland 66
Time: 37.3

This sequence foreshadows some craziness. Maryland doesn’t need to foul down two possessions with time on its side, so it elects to trap. Melo Trimble gets away with a blocking foul on L.J. Peak and Huerter strips the guard. Trimble inevitably fouls him anyway in a battle for the loose ball, and Peak knocks down the free throws. This game is definitely over now.

[It isn't.]

Score: Georgetown 72 - Maryland 66
Time: 31.4

Trimble has realized he needs to win this game by now. The junior takes it to the hole but is absolutely denied by Peak. Officials reviewed the play for a while and added time to the clock.

Score: Georgetown 72 - Maryland 68
Time: 29.9

Trimble runs around Cowan on this out of bounds play, then Huerter follows. Once Huerter reaches the corner, he warrants extra attention from Justin Jackson’s man, which allows Jackson to slip to the rim for an easy two.

Score: Georgetown 73 - Maryland 68
Time: 29.0

Maryland fouls Isaac Copeland, who hits the first and misses the second.

Score: Georgetown 73 - Maryland 68
Time: 19.6

Trimble just coughs up the ball on his next drive. But Maryland is able to retain it by way of the possession arrow.

Score: Georgetown 73 - Maryland 70
Time: STILL 19.6

Cowan draws a foul. He goes straight to the line without time coming off the clock since Georgetown is well over the limit. He hit both.

Score: Georgetown 73 - Maryland 70
Time: 18.3

Here comes the slop. Rodney Pryor just slips as he catches the ball. Maryland takes over with a chance to tie.

Score: Georgetown 73 - Maryland 71
Time: STILL 18.3

Cowan does it again. He pretty intentionally leans in and exaggerates to draw a foul, wasting no time off the clock. He hits the first with one more to come.

Score: Georgetown 73 - Maryland 72
Time: 18.3

Things get stranger as Cowan goes to take his second free throw. Just seconds before he’s set to release, a referee blows his whistle because the possession arrow had to be flipped. Cowan shoots anyway and makes it, but it doesn’t count. After a long pause between, he drains the second.

Score: Georgetown 75 - Maryland 72
Time: 17.2 (Literally how have only two seconds run off the clock.)

Maryland fouls Pryor and he hits both free throws.

Score: Georgetown 75 - Maryland 74
Time: 11.4

Instead of pulling up for a three, Trimble finds an easy path to the hoop to lay the ball in cut the deficit to one.

Score: Georgetown 75 - Maryland 74
Time: 8.4

Then this game gets ever more hideous as Tre Campbell steps out of bounds after getting around a trap by Huerter and Jackson. This accidentally worked for the Terps.

“I’m yelling foul at the top of my lungs,” Turgeon told reporters after the game. “We don’t foul on the double team, he dribbles out. We don’t foul again, he steps out of bounds. So we were very fortunate tonight.”

Score: Maryland 76 - Georgetown 75
Time: 7.6

You can’t make this up. The Hoyas fouled one of the best free throw shooters in the country to put him on the line. Of course Trimble sank these.

Score: Maryland 76 - Georgetown 75
Time: Final

It’s dumb to call this the best play of his career considering he’s only played two games, but this a block Huerter will remember for a long, long time.