Terrapins stifle Iowa's Uthoff

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Jarrod Uthoff wore a look of anger mixed with disappointment as he stood outside his team's locker room last night at Maryland's raucous Xfinity Center.

Uthoff's Iowa Hawkeyes (16-4, 7-1 Big Ten) suffered their first Big Ten loss, 74-68, to the Terrapins (18-3, 7-2) and fell into a first-place tie with Indiana atop the Big Ten standings. Uthoff, the Big Ten's leading scorer was held to nine points on 2 of 13 shooting. He missed all three of his 3-point attempts and whiffed on his first eight shots from the field. It was the first time he was held in single digits.

The defeat hurt Uthoff bad enough, but his performance grated on him throughout a postgame interview.

'They're very physical,' Uthoff said. 'We played other physical teams, though. We missed shots that we should have made. We got tentative.'

Maryland defended Uthoff with a combination of thick forwards Robert Carter and Jake Layman. Both fronted him when he had the ball, and Uthoff struggled to take unobstructed shots.

'I thought Robert started the game great on him,' Maryland Coach Mark Turgeon said. 'He really took on a challenge. Jake was really good on him, too.

'To me, Uthoff was playing as well as anyone in the country. Him and Buddy Hield, you can talk about as player of the year candidates. So our guys were excited to play against him.'

After halftime, Uthoff took three shots in Iowa's first two possessions. He missed a jumper, then a 3-pointer. His third shot was blocked by Maryland's Diamond Stone. He forced those shots and finally scored on his fourth attempt while putting back an Anthony Clemmons miss.

'I had to get something going because I was playing terrible,' Uthoff said. 'I played terrible the whole game. That's how it goes sometimes. I tried to get myself going any way I could.'

Uthoff won't have to wait long to redeem himself. The Hawkeyes face Northwestern on Sunday afternoon at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

'I know he'll come back next game ready to go,' Iowa guard Peter Jok said. 'Whoever's guarding him next game better come ready to play. He's really mad at himself, and I feel like he's going to take the blame himself, even though it was as a team.'

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