MD loses at Boston College; The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Coming off their weekend victory vs. Duke, Maryland arrived in Boston College tonight attempting to get to over .500 in Atlantic Coast Conference play, and continue to improve their NCAA Tournament resume.

You knew it could be difficult for Maryland to be emotionally ready to play tonight, going on the road and playing in a sparsely attended arena. You also knew that the Eagles had played teams well at home this year (1 point losses to both Duke, and Miami). However, the Eagles were just 3-9 in ACC play entering this game. This is a game MD needed to have, to build momentum from the Duke win. Despite having a 7 point half-time lead, Maryland leaves Chestnut Hill on the losing end of a 69-58 game. The Terps are now 18-8 overall, and 6-7 in the ACC.

The Good:

1) Beautiful block from Len at the 17:30 mark of the 1st half. Len’s 3rd block led to a layup from Aronhalt. Dribbling into the paint, Len used a jump hook to give MD the 20-18 lead. Two foul shots put MD up 47-46.

2) Mitchell ripped down a board on the defensive end, and scored on a power move inside for Maryland’s first basket.

3) Wells hit a short jumper from the baseline, making at 7-4 BC at the 14 minute mark of the 1st half. Good decision from Wells finding Aronhalt in the open court for a layup. Scoring off of a pass from Faust, Wells put MD up 18-16 with a layup on the baseline. After MD turned it over, it looked like the Terps would give up a layup to end the half. Wells did not give up on the play, and made a huge block as time expired on the first 20 minutes. A little floater in the lane put MD up 35-32 in the 2nd half. Wells showed his strength, finishing his layup through a foul with 5 minutes left. The made FT made it 50-49 MD.

4) Back from his 1 game suspension, Howard knocked down a 3 to tie the game at 7.

5) Allen gave made MD the 9-7 lead, blowing past his defender to hit a jumper from the FT line.

6) Len’s 3rd block led to a layup from Aronhalt, making it 13-9 MD. Aronhalt followed with a 3, making it 16-9. After getting scored on at the other end, Aronhalt got fouled on his layup attempt at the 2:50 mark of the 1st half. This set-up MD’s first foul shots of the game. Coming off an in-bounds pass, he hit a 3 off of a screen. The next time down, he hit another. This put MD up 30-24, with 1:30 left in the 1st half. A 3rd straight 3 made it 33-24. Just a tremendous lift to end the first 20 minutes, and a shooting display that Terps fans have not seen a lot of in recent memory. Coming back off the bench, Aronhalt hit another 3 to put MD up 38-35 at the 15 minute mark of the 2nd half. Fouled on a run-out with 8:15 left, Aronhalt’s 2 foul shots made it 43-42 BC. A 3 with 58 seconds left made it an 8 point game. He would hit another 10 seconds later.

7) Outstanding dribble penetration and court awareness from Faust, had the Sophomore guard finding Aronhalt for 3. Another good look from Faust found Wells on the baseline for a basket. Hitting a 3 from the wing, Faust put MD up 23-20.

8) To start the 2nd half, MD got the ball to Len and Padgett 3 times in the first 22 seconds, picking up 3 fouls on BC.

9) Good pressure defense from Layman off an in-bounds, with 8 minutes left, forcing BC into a timeout. Good rebound off a missed BC FT, followed with a 3, putting MD up 45-44. A Layman dunk ended BC’s 12-0 scoring run late in the game.

10) Maryland had just 12 turnovers.

The Bad:

1) Maryland missed multiple attempts on their 2nd possession of the game.

2) Cleare missed from point blank range, quickly after entering the game.

3) The Terps missed their first 6 shot attempts. Past that, they had only 4 points in the first 6 minutes of the game.

4) Mitchell picked up a careless offensive foul early-on. At 7-7, Mitchell had a nice spin move on the baseline, but his layup did not fall. In frustration he picked up his 2nd foul, just 8 minutes into the game. Mitchell had his shot blocked at the 16 minute mark of the 2nd half. Mitchell’s 3rd foul came at the 13 minute mark.

5) At the 15 minute mark of the 1st half, Faust had a BC pass thrown right to him that he was unable to corral.

6) Layman missed a 3 to start the game, and looked lost for the next 5+ minutes. His 2nd shot was an ugly brick around the 11 minute mark.  A 3rd missed 3 was thrown up with under 8 minutes left. That shot had no chance. Layman followed that with a frustration foul. Layman picked up his 3rd foul, 30 seconds into the 2nd half.

7) Wells missed a couple of open 3’s, including an air ball at the 9:45 mark of the 1st half. With a little over 7 minutes left in the 1st, Wells threw up a wild layup attempt. Wells had his shot blocked with 4 minutes left in the game. Another missed layup with 2 minutes left.

8) With MD leading 16-12, Allen gave the ball away at the top of the key. He missed a layup in the 2nd half, going way too strong off the backboard. Trying to do a bit too much, Allen missed another layup with 3:30 left in the game.

9) Boston College clearly could not match MD’s strength inside, but were still getting a lot of open looks from outside. Luckily for MD, the Eagles were not hitting their shots (2-11 in the 1st half), but I think the Terps could have done a better job of getting out on the perimeter and contesting the looks.

10) MD had just 2 foul shot attempts in the 1st half. Not acceptable with MD’s size and strength advantages.

11) Padgett missed 2 foul shots to begin the 2nd half, including one air ball.

12) Faust air-balled a 3 with at 15:30 left in the 2nd half.

13) A BC layup at the 10:20 mark, made it 43-38 Eagles. This capped an 8-0 BC run, with Odio creating additional chances for the Eagles with his work on the boards.

14) At 49-47 BC, Howard just gave the ball away in transition.

15) Len had 5 shots. He fouled out of the game. He had a turnover in the last minute of the game.

16) Maryland’s huge advantage in size and strength did not show tonight, as BC won on the boards.

17) BC had 22 foul shot attempts.

The Ugly:

1) Maryland entered the 2nd half with a 7 point lead, and a chance to take control of the game. However, they scored just 2 points in the first 4+ minutes of resumed play, allowing BC to tie the game at the 15:45 mark.

2) I said before the game that we would learn more about Maryland either way. Unfortunately that proved true.