Rasheed Sulaimon and Melo Trimble of Maryland get their points but nothing else against Jayhawks

The Kansas backcourt has faced its share of challenges all season, and this one might have been the toughest.

Maryland’s Melo Trimble and Rasheed Sulaimon rank with the nation’s best. Both earned Big Ten honors and could be headed to NBA futures. They showed great chemistry especially early in the year.

Although they outscored their Kansas counterparts on Thursday night, they couldn’t beat them.

Kansas put away Maryland 79-63 in the South Region regional semifinal and will take on Villanova in the Elite Eight at 7:49 p.m. Saturday on CBS. The survivor of the region’s top two seeds will travel to the Final Four in Houston next week.

Frank Mason and Devonte Graham worked tirelessly against Trimble and Sulaimon, and the Kansas guards didn’t have good scoring nights.

Mason finished with 11 points, including a layup he flipped in just before the final buzzer. Graham had two and didn’t have a field goal. He appeared to be playing with leg cramps during the second half.

But along with Wayne Selden, the Kansas guards made sure Trimble and Sulaimon didn’t score enough for the Terrapins, especially after halftime.

“They were great on defense,” Maryland Coach Mark Turgeon said. “We’re a good offensive team. We’re hard to guard. They really locked in on us.”

In the first half, Trimble and Sulaimon combined for 22 points on eight of 16 shooting. Sulaimon opened the game with a three-pointer. Trimble added a pair before halftime as the Terrapins trailed by only two.

Sulaimon finished with 18, Trimble 17, but in the second half they combined to go three for 12 from the floor. As a team, Maryland went five for 25 on three-pointers.

“Their team defense was tremendous,” Sulaimon said. “I still think the way we execute on offense we still got a lot of good shots that we wanted to have. But down the stretch they made shots and we didn’t.”

On a team loaded with potential NBA prospects — “Joe’s vs. pros” some described the matchup — the Maryland guards are the team leaders. Nobody else stepped up in the second half as the Jayhawks gradually extended the margin.

Selden took care of the Kansas backcourt production on the offensive side. He finished with 19 and guarded Maryland forward Jake Layman most of the night.

But by limiting the damage of Trimble and Sulaimon, Kansas took away Maryland’s heartbeat.

“All three of their guards were really good but those two little guards (Mason and Graham) are really quick,” Turgeon said. “We missed a few shots we might have made. They had a lot to do with that.

“I don’t know if Kansas changed anything. They just continued to do what they do, and they wore us down a little bit. We lost to the best team in the country.”

Graham’s heart skipped a beat just before halftime. After a nifty Selden pass to Landen Lucas resulted in a bucket that gave KU a 36-34 lead with 25 seconds left, the Jayhawks played terrific defense and Perry Ellis drew a charge against Trimble with 2.7 second to play.

There was time to run a final play and perhaps get close enough for a reasonable heave. Graham took the inbounds pass and had the ball swiped cleanly by Sulaimon in front of the Kansas bench.

Sulaimon had time to gather himself and launch an open look.

The shot missed, Kansas had the halftime lead, and nobody felt better about it than Graham.

The Jayhawks’ 17-game winning streak started with a victory over Kentucky, and Kansas surviving a terrific performance from guards Tyler Ulis and Jamal Murray.

This story was originally published March 24, 2016 at 11:21 PM with the headline "Rasheed Sulaimon and Melo Trimble of Maryland get their points but nothing else against Jayhawks."