Coming off the beating at Ohio State, the Maryland Terrapins had a mini-bye going into their home game Wednesday night vs. Penn State. It was my hope (and flawed expectation) that with having had a few extra days of rest, and preparation; that Coach Turgeon’s crew would look refreshed against the Nittany Lions.

That did not happen. It was another struggle throughout, with MD getting just enough from Jonathan Graham (against his former program) and Dez Wells to win, and improve to 19-4 overall, and 7-3 in the Big Ten Conference.

On Sunday (3:15PM, Big Ten Network) Maryland travels to Iowa to face the Hawkeyes (14-8 overall, 5-4 in the Big Ten).

(Discuss this on the BSL Board here.)

Including the game vs. Iowa, MD has 8 games left in Big Ten play prior to the Big Ten Tournament. My feeling is the pendulum is likely to swing back towards better play for the Terps in the near-term. 24+ wins heading to the BTT should happen. Doing some damage once there, and this group eventually proving to be Sweet 16 caliber remain reasonable goals.

If the play is going to improve, seeing it begin to happen Sunday would be a start. I’ve been calling for MD to push the ball more in transition. Against PSU, MD was attempting that. The outlet passes after misses were a little quicker. The tempo was increased, yet MD still had just 64 points against a very mediocre defense. MD going 3 of 15 from 3, and 15 of 24 from the line obviously did not help. Nor did Nickens being a non-factor (0 for 1), or Smotrycz making just 2 of his 7 attempts.

The issue which typically impacts the offense on most nights is the lack of any low-post scoring. On Wednesday that was mitigated for one night, by the aforementioned strong performance with Graham.

What hurt MD the most against PSU was Trimble going 0 for 5 from the floor (after an 0 for 8 showing vs. Ohio State). To Trimble’s credit, he actively looked to get his teammates involved in the 2nd half and had 8 (a career high) of MD’s 9 assists.

Even though I believe MD has the guards and wings to really push the tempo, and do even more pressing and trapping – that’s just not the style of play Coach Turgeon prefers. He uses the press sparingly, and seemingly as a last resort. He is not interested in MD being a run-and-gun team. The limitations MD has in the low-post are also not going to change.

You can expect Trimble to catch a second wind and play better. It’s true that he has a bulls-eye on his back right now, and that teams are gearing to stop him. He will adjust. I’m confident in that. There were moments Wednesday where he became tentative and gun shy. Those opportunities will be reviewed by Trimble, and the Coaching staff.

By any means necessary MD’s primary goal Sunday is to leave Iowa with their 20th win. On a secondary level, you want Wells to build off of his strong outing, and see Trimble wake-up.

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How do the teams compare?

Adjusted Offensive Efficiency:
Iowa 113 (25th Nationally)
Maryland 107.6 (64th Nationally)

Adjusted Defensive Efficiency:
Iowa 98.1 (100th Nationally)
Maryland 93.5 (37th Nationally)

Adjusted Tempo:
Iowa 64 (234th Nationally)
Maryland 65.4 (163rd Nationally)

Points Per Game:
Iowa 69.2 (136th Nationally)
Maryland 71.4 (89th Nationally)

FG %:
Iowa .427 (227th Nationally)
Maryland .438 (159th Nationally)

Assists Per Game:
Iowa 14.1 (79th Nationally)
Maryland 11.3 (274th Nationally)

Points Allowed:
Iowa 62.9 (90th Nationally)
Maryland 63.5 (104th Nationally)

Rebounding:
Iowa 37.3 (55th Nationally)
Maryland 36.4 (85th Nationally)

The following numbers are as of Feb 4th:

FG % Defense:
Iowa 40 (72nd Nationally)
Maryland 39.5 (48th Nationally)

Rebound Margin:
Iowa 2.7 (108th Nationally)
Maryland 3.0 (93rd Nationally)

Turnover Margin:
Iowa 0.9 (5th Nationally)
Maryland -0.4 (216th Nationally)

Free Throw Attempts:
Iowa 478 (110th Nationally)
Maryland 562 (12th Nationally)

3 pt FG %:
Iowa 31.8 (258th Nationally)
Maryland 37.0 (65th Nationally)

Hawkeyes to Know:
Aaron White – 6’9, 220 lbs, Senior Forward.  Averaging 15 ppg, 6.5 boards.

Jarrod Uthoff – 6’8, 208 lbs, Junior Forward. Averaging 11.6 ppg, 6.4 boards, 1.5 blocks, 42% from the floor, 38% from 3, 68% from the line.

Adam Woodbury – 7’1, 245 lbs, Junior Center. Averaging 7.0 ppg, 5.5 boards.

Gabriel Olasen – 6’10, 225 lbs, Senior Center. Averaging 8.5 ppg, 5.1 boards, 1.7 blocks. 55% from the floor, 77% from the line.

Mike Gesell – 6’1, 190 lbs, Junior Guard. Averaging 7.6 ppg, 3.5 assists. 28% from 3.

Best Wins:
@North Carolina, @Ohio State, @Minnesota, Ohio State

Worst Loss:
The Hawkeyes don’t really have a bad loss. They have a strong Strength of Schedule. The worst of the bunch is their recent loss is at Purdue, but the Boilermakers have been hot – and are a Top 75 RPI team.

Overall Thoughts & Prediction:

Iowa won 4 of their first 5 in Big Ten play, lost 3 in a row, and then beat-up the Wolverines in Michigan last night. (Shooting a ridiculous 63% from the floor.)

Seeing how the Hawkeyes primary players are interior threats; I’m surprised their overall team FG% is so low for the year.

They look to be a team with experience, but it would seem as though MD should have a distinct advantage on the perimeter.

The Hawkeyes best wins are impressive. Shows that on a given night they are certainly capable of rising-up. Those are all teams that prefer to run, so maybe the Hawkeyes are comfortable playing against that style of play.

A MD loss would not be shocking here. The Terps have now played well just once in their last eight games. Certainly road wins (especially in conference play) are always an achievement. Iowa might be able to use their size to exploit MD’s bigs.

Ultimately though, I feel this is a game MD could and probably should win.

68-64 Terps.

Chris Stoner
Chris Stoner

Owner

Chris Stoner founded Baltimore Sports and Life in 2009. He has appeared as a radio guest with 1090 WBAL, 105.7 The Fan, CBS 1300, Q1370, WOYK 1350, WKAV 1400, and WNST 1570. He has also been interviewed by The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Business Journal, and PressBox (TV). As Owner, his responsibilities include serving as the Managing Editor, Publicist, & Sales Director.

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