Northwestern extinguished any flicker of hope it had for reaching the NCAA bubble on Saturday at Maryland.

Coming off of a big win over a ranked Michigan team for their fourth win in five games, the Wildcats, with a favorable schedule down the stretch, looked poised to make a late-season run to get into the tournament conversation.

But instead of playing with urgency, Northwestern came out with one of its flattest performances of the season in a dismal 73-56 loss to the Terrapins.

Maryland jumped on Northwestern with a 3-point barrage to take control early. The Wildcats got back into the game behind Scottie Lindsey’s scoring, and a Bryant McIntosh lob that Vic Law rammed home for a dunk got the Wildcats to within 54-46 halfway through the second period. But then Maryland went on a rampage, outscoring NU 12-1 to blow the game open before coasting to the finish.

Lindsey scored 20 points to lead Northwestern, while Dererk Pardon added 12.

Kevin Huerter did the most damage for Maryland, tallying 22 points. He was one of four Terrapins in double figures.

Here are our three pointers on the costly loss that dropped Northwestern’s record to 15-11 (6-7 Big Ten):

Maryland blitzed Northwestern at the start of both halves: The Terrapins, who are now 14-2 at home, used a 3-for-all to open up a big early lead. They hit their first five shots from long distance, including three by Huerter, to open up a 17-8 bulge right out of the gate. Most of the shots were open ones as Northwestern, which held Michigan to 5-of-22 on 3-pointers in Tuesday night’s win, had trouble finding shooters on the perimeter. Lindsey then got hot, scoring 13 points over the last 6:59 of the half to get the Wildcats back in the game, and they trailed just 36-29 at the break. But Maryland pounced on the Wildcats again in the second half, opening the period on a 7-0 run as Northwestern turned the ball over three times and committed three fouls in the first 2:33. The Wildcats could get no closer than eight points the rest of the way.

McIntosh got shut out: This was a matchup of two teams led by point guards and Maryland’s Anthony Cowan Jr., who had 16 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists, badly outplayed McIntosh, who was held scoreless for the first time in his NU career. McIntosh went 0-for-5 from the floor and produced just one assist while turning the ball over three times. To add injury to insult, his left knee buckled in the first half on a drive to the basket. He curled up on the floor and held his leg for a while but eventually returned to the game. With Law scoring just 8 points, Lindsey was left to carry the offense, with a little help from Aaron Falzon, who came off the bench to score all eight of his points within a 1:24 span in the second half.

Northwestern’s defense got exposed: The Wildcats’ 2-3 zone defense has been their strongest asset in their recent 4-1 run, but they struggled against Maryland. The Terrapins hit 7 of 10 3-pointers early in the game, most of them uncontested. They eventually cooled off and hit just 2 of their last 11 attempts from distance, but the Terps still hit 42.9 percent in the game. Once they established their outside shooting, the Terrapins went to work inside and hit 27 of 51 shots from the floor overall, a 52.9-percent average. Maryland’s defense, on the other hand, was extremely active, using superior athleticism to contest just about every Northwestern shot and blocking seven of them. The Wildcats were stagnant offensively and harassed into shooting just 33.3 percent (19 of 57) for the game.