Iowa made Maryland look more like twerps than Terps.
The Hawkeyes bounced the Terrapins from the NIT with a 71-60 win in the tournament semi-finals on Tuesday night to advance to the Championship Game for the first time in school history.
“A lot of teams aren’t playing right now,” Iowa guard Roy Devyn Marble said. “We’re one of the blessed and few teams available left to play. We’re not taking this opportunity for granted.”
Maryland’s undisciplined play and Iowa’s hybrid defense proved to be too much for it to overcome. The Terrapins dug themselves into a 14-point deficit in the first half thanks to 10 turnovers which resulted in 18 points for the Hawkeyes.
“They were ready to play, we weren’t,” Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon said. “We just didn’t play smart enough to win tonight. Our shot selection, our turnovers, our decision making. It was [Iowa’s] night, it wasn’t ours.”
While Maryland’s Dez Wells and Alex Len came in as the most recognizable players of the contest, the duo was outplayed by the lesser known combo of Marble (21 points) and Adam Woodbury for Iowa.
“I thought Woodbury was tremendous,” Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery said. “He was physical, he moved his feet. I thought he really battled, utilized his size and affected the game for us. I think when you look at [Len and Wells] in particular; it has to be a collective effort.”
Wells and Len combined for 25 points on 10-of-21 shooting for the Terrapins. Len did add a game-high nine rebounds as well as blocking six Hawkeye shots.
“The [disruption was caused by their]physicality, which we weren’t used to,” Turgeon said. “I’ll be honest, we don’t get zoned in the ACC. I couldn’t get my guys to understand the changing defenses and what we were supposed to do.”
Maryland chipped away throughout the game after falling behind 33-19 with 5:12 left to play in the first half. The Terrapins would cut the Hawkeyes’ lead to within five points twice in the second half before an Eric May trey crushed Maryland’s comeback hopes with just under a minute to play.
“That was the one that put it away,” McCaffery said. “I certainly wasn’t surprised. He’s been playing like that all year long.”
The Terrapins, whose season ends in the same city it began, attributed the sloppy first-half play and overall performance to having played just one game in the 11 days prior to Tuesday night’s loss.
“I think it was most likely having so much time off late in the season,” Maryland guard Logan Aronhalt said. “It’s tough to get into a rhythm and play and I think guys got out of [sync] a bit.”
Even when it seemed like Maryland was on the verge of making a comeback, it was unable to string together multiple strong possessions.
The Terrapins were able to get into the single bonus with just under 15 minutes to play in the second half, Iowa started attacking down low to get themselves into the bonus as well, preventing any prolonged Maryland run.
“We’re used to playing in close games and teams making runs to come back on us,” Marble said. “We’ve had to make plays down the stretch and we did that again tonight.”
The win was the fourth straight in which Iowa beat its opponents by double-digits and Marble scored at least 20 points.
“You’ve got to love the time of March,” Marble said. “It’s the time to really pick up your play. We’re playing with a lot of confidence. Everybody is comfortable and it’s showing.”
Melsahn Basabe, a native of Glen Cove, scored just four points for Iowa in what was his first game ever at Madison Square Garden.
Iowa will play Baylor for the NIT Championship on Thursday night at 9 p.m. (ESPN2) asulla-heffinger@nypost.com