Terps advance to MSG; The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

With a 58-57 win over the Alabama Crimson Tide, the University of Maryland improved to 25-12 on the season. The victory advances the Terrapins into the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) Semi-Finals at Madison Square Garden. At MSG next Tuesday, Maryland will face the winner of tomorrow’s Virginia / Iowa game.

The Good:

1) Maryland won on the road in a hostile environment, against a team that had not lost at home since December.

2) Mitchell scored early, with a bucket inside. Following either a miss, or maybe a low lob from Faust; Mitchell scored again to make it 7-5 Terps. Coming back into the game after his flagrant foul, Mitchell tapped in a Wells miss to put the Terps up 25-19. Mitchell had 6 points, and 5 boards.

3) Driving the floor, Wells went strong to the rim and scored while being fouled. Hitting his FT, MD took a 10-5 lead. Stepping into a 3, Wells put MD up 23-19. Breaking pressure, Wells again scored through contact to put MD up 27-21. Nice steal with a minute left in the half. Early in the 2nd half, Wells hit a 3. Wells skied to get a missed 3 from Aronhalt, and score inside. Wells had 13 points, and 5 boards.

4) Len wasn’t doing anything offensively early, but he came up with several good plays defending the MD basket during the middle of the 1st half. Len finally got on the board with a couple of FT’s with 9:37 left in the 1st. A nice move in the post gave MD the 14-13 lead. Nice offensive board from Len off a missed Aronhalt 3. Len had a nice slam off a lob from Howard. After 3 poor plays to begin the 2nd half, Len got good position and finished with his left through contact. That put MD up 36-28. The next time down, Layman found Len for a lob. Nice power move from Len, scoring to put the Terps up 44-38. Good look to find Aronhalt for a jumper at the FT line. Len had a rebound off a miss from Layman, turned, and finished with a power slam. With 2 minutes left in regulation, Len earned a trip to the line, batting as the shot-clock was set to expire. Len went to the line with 27 seconds left, as he muscled up a shot. Len had a block with 3 seconds left. Len had 15 points, 13 boards, and 5 blocks.

5) A good drive down the lane, had Layman scoring and putting the Terps up 16-15. That came with a faked behind the back pass. Later he came up with a steal, and got to the line. Layman came up with another steal, and a monster slam with 1:24 left. Nice pass from Layman to Len for a slam. Coming up with a follow on a missed 3 from Aronhalt, Layman scored inside. A 3 from Layman put the Terps up 5 with 4 minutes left. He followed with another off a screen. Layman had 13 points, 3 steals, 2 boards, 2 assists, and 2 blocks.

6) Waiting in the corner, Aronhalt buried a 3 to put the Terps up 19-17. Good recovery from Aronhalt, jumping a pass for a steal in the 2nd half. Aronhalt hit a jumper from the FT line, to put the Terps up 46-39.

7) Howard came up with a steal with 3:30 left in the 1st. Nice lob to Len for a slam with 2 minutes left. Stopping a 9-2 Alabama run, Howard hit a 3 with 4:40 left to make it 51-47.

8) Maryland had a 31-24 lead at the half.

9) At the half, MD was leading the battle of the boards 16 to 11. For the game, the Terps had a 32-23 edge.

10) The Terps shot well in the 1st half (12 of 23), getting a lot of good attempts from inside. For the game, MD was 23 of 46.

The Bad:

1) At 10-5 MD, Wells ran into traffic in the lane, and turned the ball over. After comingup with a steal in the last minute of the 1st half, Wells forced his shot on the other end. With 4 seconds left in the half, Wells stepped into the back-court against pressure. Mental error from Wells, as he stepped on the sidelines with 8 minutes left. Wells missed a layup with 7:20 left. Wells was charged with a turnover with 1:30 left, and another with 1 minute left. Wells finished with 5 turnovers.

2) Howard turned the ball over against pressure, with the Terps up 10-7. The Terps were down 11-10, when Howard had his shot blocked on an attempted layup. After hitting a 3 with 5 minutes left, Howard played ole defense on the other end. With 3 minutes left in the game, Howard was called for a 10 second violation. Howard had 3 turnovers, and 3 assists.

3) Mitchell picked up an offensive foul for swinging his elbows, which was deemed a Flagrant foul after a review. This gave him 2 fouls with 15:40 left in the 1st. With 4 minutes left in the 1st, Mitchell turned it over with extra steps. In the middle of the 2nd half, Mitchell found himself back on the bench after an errant pass to nobody. With 5:30 left, Mitchell lost the ball against a double-team.

4) Cleare was not able to come up with a pass, and the ball went out of play; with MD down 13-10. For the rest of the game, he was basically glued to the bench.

5) Maryland had 4 turnovers in the first 8 and a 1/2 minutes of the 1st half.

6) Layman missed an open look from 3, at the 11:20 mark of the 1st.

7) Faust picked up an offensive foul, hooking a defender along the Alabama baseline. The Terps were up 38-31 when Faust turned it over in the lane. After hitting his 3 to start the game, Faust’s offense totally disappeared.

8) Len was not able to finish a dunk to begin the 2nd half. Attempting to back-down his defender, Len got pushed out of the post and threw up a weak air-ball. Len picked up his 2nd foul, as he was called for a charge with 17:14 left in the 2nd half. Len was called for steps as he attempted to power across the lane. With 6:30 left, Len picked up his 4th foul. With his 4 fouls, Len had to be very cautious on defense. Leading 58-57, Len missed both FT’s.

9) Out of a timeout, Alabama hit a 3, to cut into MD’s 10 point lead.

10) Aronhalt had an off-night shooting, missing several open looks. Aronhalt was charged with a walk with 9 minutes left.

11) Allen’s absence did not help, but Maryland had 17 turnovers. Each of Len, Wells, Mitchell, Faust, and Howard had at-least 2.

12) The Terps were up 46-39 after Aronhalt’s jumper with 9:29 left. Alabama went on a 9-2 turn to pull within 1 with 5 minutes left.

The Ugly:

1) A free throw from Wells gave MD 10 points with 17:24 left in the first. Their next point came on a Len free throw with 9:37 left.