One week removed from a stupefying defeat to No. 13 seed Nebraska in the second round of the Big Ten tournament in Chicago, the Maryland men’s basketball team vowed not to make the same mistakes in its NCAA tournament opener Thursday against 11th-seed Belmont at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena.
It’s not the shots the Terps missed or the turnovers they committed in losing to the Cornhuskers, 69-61. It was the mindset Maryland, seeded fifth and favored by seven points, took going into the game.
Freshman forward Jalen Smith (Mount Saint Joseph) was among several players who conceded that the Terps, despite losing two of their past three regular-season games, took Nebraska too lightly after beating the Cornhuskers in two previous meetings this season.