Five members of the Maryland men’s basketball team stood at center court in gray sweats watching warm-ups roughly 20 minutes before tip-off against visiting Mount St. Mary’s on Wednesday night. They represented the growing injured list for the Terrapins, who have been shorthanded since the start of the season.
The latest to join that group was forward-center Pharrel Payne, the centerpiece of the roster whose lower-body injury suffered Saturday against Marquette has left a considerable void. Payne’s absence on the court was so unmistakable that it took 41 points from graduate guard Diggy Coit, a career best, and all the fortitude Maryland could muster in overtime to outlast the Mountaineers, 95-90, at Xfinity Center.
“What was working was my teammates putting me in position to score, spacing, us reading the game, making the right decisions,” Coit said after scoring the most points in the history of the 23-year-old arena. “And I think it just flowed into me scoring tonight.”
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Avoiding what would have been a stunning upset — Maryland (4-1) entered with a 12-0 record in the series and winners of 21 in a row against in-state opponents — required Coit’s pull-up jumper to take the lead for good, 86-84, with 1:43 left in the extra session and his three-pointer less than a minute later for a two-possession margin.
The 5-foot-11 Kansas transfer made 11 of 17 from the field, including 8 of 10 three-pointers, in addition to sinking all 11 of his free throw attempts to amass the third-highest single-game scoring total in school history, falling three short of matching Ernie Graham’s program record. Coit’s three-pointer with eight seconds left in regulation forced overtime with the score tied at 77.
The Terps also got 19 points from freshman wing Darius Adams, who went 17 of 21 at the foul line, and 14 from forward Elijah Saunders to overcome 38.5 percent shooting after halftime while missing 14 layups and 10 free throws overall. Balky three-point shooting defense nearly doomed Maryland as well, with the Mountaineers (1-4) making 17 for 36 (47.2 percent).
While Coit’s heroics bailed out Maryland, the result underscored the uncertainty of future success for the Terps without Payne, whose status Coach Buzz Williams declined to address, as per his long-standing policy of not revealing the extent nor the nature of injuries.
Payne was injured during an awkward landing with legs stretched in the opposite direction after dunking midway through in the second half of Saturday’s 89-82 road victory over Marquette. Despite the loss of Payne, who left the court on a stretcher, the Terps still managed to secure their first high-major triumph of the season.
Payne “gets fouled at a high rate. That’s important to our team,” Williams said. “He does give us a presence of physicality on both sides of the ball. I’m just as humbled and thankful and proud of what took place over these 45 minutes as I was the 40 minutes in Milwaukee because there was every opportunity to just pack up and go home in Milwaukee, and there were even more potential justifications for the same thing to happen tonight.”
A prolonged absence for Payne, who Williams calls the best player on the team, would greatly impact the Terps moving forward, particularly if he is unable to play during next week’s trip to Las Vegas for the Players Era tournament that begins Monday with a game against UNLV.
Maryland is also guaranteed one additional game against Gonzaga on Tuesday, with the rest of the schedule to be determined based on results. Other schools participating include second-ranked Houston, No. 7 Michigan, No. 11 Alabama, No. 14 St. John’s and other national powers.
Payne posted a career-high 26 points against the Wolverines in last season’s NCAA tournament round of 32 during Texas A&M’s 91-79 loss. The first player to sign with Maryland after Williams was introduced April 2 as the next coach leads the Terps in scoring (18.3) and rebounding (6.3).
His value also comes in leadership as the Terps’ senior with the most games played (100) in his career. Once Payne announced he would be transferring to Maryland, three Aggies teammates followed, including projected starter Solomon Washington, who has not played this season while on the mend from an ankle injury.
Myles Rice also has been nursing a sore ankle that has kept the redshirt junior transfer and projected starter at point guard out for all but one game. That one game was a 19-point performance in a 70-60 loss to visiting Georgetown Nov. 7.
“We’ve been adjusting with guys coming in and out of the lineup” Saunders said. “We know what Pharrel brings in terms of physicality and what he brings in the paint, we knew someone was going to have to step up, and we all put it together, but Dig, man, 40, I’ve never seen that in a game from anyone on my team.”
Amid the relatively extensive injury list, there was a most positive development during the first half courtesy of five-star forward Baba Oladotun announcing he would be attending Maryland. The eighth-ranked prospect nationally, per ESPN, attends Blake High School, lives in Silver Spring, Maryland, and is the first in-state recruit for Williams.
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