Maryland basketball vs. New Mexico: preview, how to watch & more

Maryland basketball is coming off its first loss to the season at the hands of St. Bonaventure. The Terps had 20 turnovers, and as a result, lost 63-61 in the Emerald Coast Classic’s semifinal round.

Anthony Cowan Jr. led the way with 13 points, bringing his scoring average to 14.3 points a night. However, Maryland struggled with St. Bonaventure’s 1-3-1 zone all night and couldn’t get its offense into a flow. The Terps largely kept Matt Mobley in check, but he still finished as the Bonnies leading scorer with 16 points.

The Terps had been bullying teams in the paint, but against the Bonnies, both teams scored 26 points inside. Maryland still won the rebounding battle 36-29, but the bench got thoroughly outplayed, while Justin Jackson and Kevin Huerter had quiet nights and finished with nine points and five points, respectively.

While the Terps played their worst basketball game of the year, New Mexico gave TCU all it could handle in the tournament’s other semifinal before falling 69-67. The Lobos had a shot to win it at the buzzer, but the shot missed and the Horned Frogs escaped.

The Terps will face New Mexico in the tournament’s consolation game at 4 p.m. ET. The game won’t be televised, but will be streamed on Emerald Coast TV.

Now Maryland needs a bounceback game.

For Maryland, it starts with handling the ball much more efficiently and figuring out the zone defense. You can bet the Lobos stuck around and saw how effective the zone was at disrupting Maryland’s offense, and that the Terps will see it again.

In a way, New Mexico is one of the worst opponents for Maryland. The Lobos have forced turnovers on 23.5 percent of their opponents’ possessions, a top-50 rate, per Kenpom. Meanwhile, the Terps have turned it over on 24 percent of their possessions this season, which ranks in the bottom 30 in Division I basketball. The Lobos forced 16 turnovers against the TCU, and could further expose Maryland’s ball control issues.

Sam Logwood leads the Lobos in scoring, averaging 17.6 points a game, and had a career-high 27 against the Horned Frogs. Chris McNeal and Akron grad transfer Antino Jackson both added 12 points each against TCU, though the comeback effort fell just short. New Mexico now has three straight losses after falling to Tennessee Tech and New Mexico State last week.

Maryland will get a chance to redeem itself after last night’s loss, but will have to take much better care of the ball to avoid leaving Niceville, Florida, with a second straight loss.

The numbers

Maryland: 5-1

New Mexico: 2-3

All-time series: first meeting

Odds: No line

How to watch and listen

Saturday, Nov. 25, 4 p.m. (ET), The Arena at Northwest Florida State College, Niceville, Florida

Streaming: Emerald Coast TV

Radio: 105.7 FM (Balt.), 980 AM (DC), Sirius (137) / XM (193) - Chris Knoche (Play-by-Play), Troy Wainwright (Analyst)