SAN FRANCISCO — With uncertainty about the future of coach Kevin Willard swirling, the Maryland men’s basketball team’s season ended with a whimper Thursday night in the Sweet 16, as top-seeded Florida handed the fourth-seeded Terps their biggest loss of the season, 87-71.

Maryland (27-9) was outscored 47-33 in the second half and allowed a season high in points to the Gators (33-4) inside Chase Center, setting up a potentially tumultuous weekend in College Park.

Willard has been linked to the opening at Villanova and on Wednesday dodged questions about his future and his expectations for support from Maryland. Former athletic director Damon Evans left for the same position at Southern Methodist on the eve of the Terps’ NCAA tournament opener Friday, adding another complication to Maryland’s pursuit of a contract extension.

The Terps’ “Crab Five,” the starting lineup that led Maryland to a second-place finish in the Big Ten Conference, combined for 68 points on a night the bench was held to three points. But the Terps had no answer for Florida’s 3-point shooting or offensive rebounding.

Senior forward Julian Reese had 12 points and eight rebounds in his final game for Maryland. Freshman center Derik Queen, a top NBA draft prospect who’s expected to turn pro, had 27 points and five rebounds. Junior guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie had 17 points before fouling out.

Guard Will Richard had a team-high 15 points for Florida, which had six players finish with double-digit scoring.

Too strong, too big, too deep

The question of Maryland’s potential has always been how far could an incredible starting five — and almost no bench to speak of — go? The answer: this far. Florida is a near-perfect foil to the Terps, with a host of physical, athletic defenders who can wipe the glass clean. Every possession was hard in Thursday’s game. There was no clear head of the snake for the Gators. You could see Maryland’s phenomenal Crab Five drain down in a second half that got out of hand as they were overextended. Thanks for the memories, Derik, Juju, et al, but this was clearly the end of the road.

— Kyle Goon, columnist

Willard got exposed

If this is it for Kevin Willard in Maryland, you have to wonder what the ceiling might’ve been had he stayed. He was hired as a tough-minded, defense-first coach, but in the most important game of his career, the Terps couldn’t keep Florida off the glass or off the 3-point line. And on offense Maryland too often resorted to one-on-one dribble drives or go-get-me-a-bucket plays inside. Will the Terps find someone better in their next coaching search? That’s to be determined. But Willard’s limitations were laid bare Thursday.

— Jonas Shaffer, reporter

The glass ceiling

The horrendous differential on the boards is what this game came down to. Even without Alex Condon on the floor for Florida for much of the first half, the Gators bullied the Terps down low. They finished with 42 rebounds to Maryland’s 20, and Florida turned its 15 offensive rebounds into 21 second-chance points. It was a great season for Julian Reese and Derik Queen, but they hit a front court they couldn’t outduel alone.

— Andy Kostka, reporter

The Terps got too sloppy

Maryland showed a lot of heart in the first half by climbing out of an early 11-point deficit and narrowing the margin to two by halftime. Frankly, Florida gave the Terps ample opportunity to come back with some pretty careless ball handling, tallying 13 turnovers to Maryland’s seven.

Coming out of the break, Todd Golden’s Gators squad got its act together. Kevin Willard’s Terrapins, meanwhile, got sloppy. Maryland shot 39.3% from the floor, and the bulk of that came from future NBA lottery pick Derik Queen, who went 6-for-10 from the floor and scored 17 of his 27 points. The rest of the Terps contributed just 16 points. Now, the fun over contract talks and transfer portal moves begins.

— Brandon Weigel, editor

Devastating. Now what?

This is where we are now, with college sports still trying to figure out what it should become. You can watch a team like the Terps and feel all sorts of conflicting feelings. These players are easy to love, but we know it will be a rotating cast year in and year out. Kevin Willard’s bold assertions about what the program needs were refreshing but also clearly a distraction. You want to see this as something to build on, but instead there are far, far more questions than answers when you start thinking about the future.

Jonas wrote a great story today on the 2019-20 team that lost its chance at a tournament run thanks to COVID. The way this group whimpered into the final 10 minutes of this game was uncharacteristic, and tells me that something left the players more depleted and less focused than they should have been — another ending influenced by things outside their control.

— Chris Korman. editor