When you're on the road, playing a team undefeated in conference play at home, and they hit 14 three-pointers on better than 60% shooting from beyond the arc, you're going to lose.
Northwestern found out that truth the hard way on Sunday. Maryland torched the No. 21 Wildcats, 75-59, to hand them their second straight loss.
The Terrapins, who came into the game ranked next-to-last in the Big Ten in three-point shooting at 32%, hit 14-of-22 shots from long range to double their season average with 64%.
The win gave Maryland a perfect 10-0 record at the Xfinity Center in conference play, and a 15-1 mark overall. The only team to beat them in College Park, Md., was UCLA way back on Dec. 14.
Northwestern hung around for a half before the three-point barrage wore them down in the second.
Chase Audige scored 14 of his team-high 16 points in the first 20 minutes, as the Wildcats trailed by just two at the break, 41-39, despite the fact that Maryland made eight of 11 three-pointers.
But Audige went cold in the second half and the Terps ran away with the game, increasing their lead to double digits at the halfway point of the period and then just putting it on cruise-control from there. Northwestern scored just 20 points in the second half.
Brooks Barnhizer had 11 points and Matt Nicholson 10 as the other two Wildcats in double-figures. Leading scorer Boo Buie was held to a season-low of four points in the contest.
Five Terrapins scored in double figures, led by Jahmir Young, who had 18 points on 4-for-7 shooting on three-pointers, and Donald Carey, who finished with 14, matching Young's marksmanship from long range.
Here are our takeaways from the loss that dropped Northwestern's record to 20-9 overall and 11-7 in the Big Ten:
Buie just couldn't buy a bucket: Coming off of a career-best 35 points against Illinois on Thursday night, Northwestern's star guard and leading scorer had his worst scoring output of the season, putting up a season-low four points on just 1-of-9 shooting from the floor.
To his credit, Buie found other ways to contribute, dishing out a game-high eight assists. But when the man who has been carrying the offense with four straight games of more than 20 points goes that cold, Northwestern's offense just doesn't have enough firepower to recover.
Buie didn't hit his first basket, a three-pointer, until just 2:42 was left in the first half. In the second half, things got even worse as Buie went 0-for-5 from the floor and scored just one point on a free throw. He also had just one assist over the last 20 minutes.
Audige kept the Cats afloat for a half: Audige, who scored just seven points on 3-for-14 shooting against Illinois, came out red-hot against the Terrapins.
He scored 10 points in the first 10 minutes, a barrage that included a pair of three-pointers and an impressive drive to the basket. He also had a memorable sequence when he practically dribbled the air out of the ball and got double-teamed, but hit a difficult fadeaway jumper from the circle anyway.
But the tables turned in the second half and Audige came back down to earth. He went scoreless until just 3:40 remained in the game, and finished the half with just those two points on 1-for-3 shooting. He also turned the ball over three times.
The Terps shot the lights out: The bottom line was that Maryland just rarely missed threes. Whether a Terrapin got a clean look from the perimeter, or a hand was in his face with the shot-clocking winding down, the team had its best long-range shooting game of the season.
Carey, who came into the game averaging one triple a game, hit four in seven shots. Young, a 32% shooter on the season, also hit four of seven (57%). Ian Martinez went 3-for-3, because why not?
Maryland was already one of the best teams in the nation on its home court. Add a shooting performance like that for a team that hadn't shot well from beyond the arc all season, and the Wildcats never really had a chance to get out of there with a win.
Big Matt came up big: Nicholson had one of his best games of the season for the Wildcats in a losing effort.
The junior 7-footer had two thunderous dunks in the first minutes of the game to set the tone and finished with 10 points after hitting five of six shots from the floor. He also had five rebounds and a block, and was a force defensively inside.
It was Nicholson's second-best performance of the season, behind only his 13-point, five-rebound performance against Michigan in January.
It was a sobering week for the Wildcats: Northwestern began the week with a brand-new No. 21 national ranking after posting three wins the previous week, including the program's first-ever win over the No. 1 team in the nation (Purdue). It was also the latest point in a season the Wildcats have ever been ranked in the AP poll.
But after a pair of road losses, the Cats are sure to tumble out of the Top 25. Northwestern went into Champaign on Thursday night and blew an 18-point halftime lead in a 66-62 loss to rival Illinois. Then, on Sunday, the Wildcats got waxed in the second half by the surging Terrapins.
Northwestern entered the week with an impressive 6-2 road record but went 0-2 -- though that is tempered considerably by the fact the Cats were underdogs in both games.
More importantly, the loss puts Northwestern in a three-way tie for second in the Big Ten, with Maryland and Indiana, at 11-7. With a home game against Penn State and a road tilt at Rutgers remaining, it's important for the Cats to hang onto a top-four spot in the standings to earn a double-bye in the Big Ten Tournament.
Northwestern also needs just one more win to set a school record with 12 Big Ten wins in a season.
