The University of Maryland put a horrible half of basketball at Virginia behind them, and came away with a hard fought 75-70 victory over Miami. With the win, the Terps are now 16-11 overall, and back within a game of .500 in the Atlantic Coast Conference at 6-7.
The Good:
1) MD’s first basket came on dribble penetration, followed by an extra pass to Padgett for the slam. Several plays later Padgett used a power move to score again. Padgett scored his 3rd basket of the game putting the Terps up 10-3. On that play, Padgett spun across Johnson into the lane and laid the ball in. Using his body and his left hand, Padgett pulled the Terps within 2 at 39-37. With under a minute left, he went and got the ball, and finished to tie the game at 66. Fouled on the play, he would put MD up 1. Padgett finished with 16 points, and 6 boards.
2) Mosley came out and hit a couple of intermediate jumpers in the initial minutes of the game. On the defensive end, Mosley knocked a pass away from Johnson to lead to a fast-break. On an in-bounds, Mosley had a good look to Len for two. Coming out of a timeout, he found Len again. Down 5 points with time running down, the Senior had a clutch 3. Mosley had 15 points, 6 assists, 5 boards, and a steal.
3) It was a good job by the Terps getting out to a solid start (13-3 lead), and quickly putting the 2nd half at Virginia behind them.
4) Stoglin had a beautiful look inside to Pankey for a slam, putting MD up 21-16. On the next possession, Pankey hit a jumper from 12 feet out. Pankey fought through a double-team keeping a possession going, leading to a Len slam. A turnaround jumper pulled the Terps within 1. Pankey had 6 points, 7 boards, and 2 assists.
5) Coming out of a timeout with MD down 8, Stoglin hit an important 3, breaking a MD scoreless drought. Stoglin had MD’s first points of the 2nd half with a strong drive. Stoglin made the right decision passing up an open 3, to find Faust alone underneath. He hit all 4 of his foul shots in the final minute. Stoglin had 20 points, 3 assists, and 2 boards.
6) Faust did a good job looking up the court, to find a streaking Stoglin to get MD within 1 at 32-31. Faust put MD back on top at (42-41) when he exploded to the rim on a layup, converted, and got to the line. Faust is going to do major things during his time at College Park, I can not wait to see him next November. Down 63-59, Faust again went to the basket, getting fouled hard to go to the line. He came up with a huge steal with 30 seconds left in the game. Faust had 8 points, 8 boards, and 4 assists, and the steal.
7) Len had one of the prettiest blocks we have seen all year, leading to a MD fast-break. On the next time down the floor, Len came through with a two-handed flush. Down 56-51, Len came down with strong boards on both sides of the court. Another aggressive slam got the Terps back within 3. Len had 8 points, 4 boards, and 2 blocks.
8) The Terps won on the boards overall (36-31), with a really strong effort on the glass in the 2nd half.
9) MD was 19 of 22 from the foul-line, and had 15 assists for the night.
The Bad:
1) With the Terps up 13-7, Weijs missed from point-blank range.
2) Mosley would get the points when he converted at the line, but MD blew a fast-break when Stoglin did not deliver the ball to Mosley early enough. The last Terps possession of the 1st ended with a Stoglin double-dribble.
2a) Stoglin had a poor shooting night (6 of 17 from the floor, 3 of 8 from 3).
3) Len turned the ball over when he started an offensive move, brought the ball down low, and saw it slapped away.
4) MD’s offense began to grind to a halt when Miami moved to a zone defense.
4a) With that offense stalled, Faust threw up a quick 3 point shot, without much attempt at running the offense.
5) The Terps got out to the early 13-3 lead, but Miami followed that with a 32-18 run to end the half.
6) Down 26-23, Mosley was charged with a turnover, but that turnover was largely the result of a poor pass from Faust. At 35-31, Faust had another poor pass, as he attempted to go inside to Pankey. Down 48-47, Faust turned the ball over when he pushed off his defender. Mistakenly believing Stoglin was going for a backdoor cut, Faust threw the ball out of bounds.
7) Padgett and Pankey hit each of their 6 combined attempts in the 1st half. Based on that success, these two probably should have had additional opportunities. (MD was 12 of 26 from the floor overall in the 1st half.)
8) In the 1st half, Miami had a lot of success on the offensive boards, and getting 2nd opportunities. MD did a poor job of boxing out. As the 1st half ended, Faust led the Terps with 3 boards.
9) MD was collectively beat down the court, allowing Miami to extend their lead to 52-47.
10) Down 61-59 with 3:16 left in the game, Pankey fouled Kadji on a 3 point attempt.
The Ugly:
1) Another conference game, another game with numerous empty seats at the Comcast Center. The crowd that was there was loud, but if you want a true home-field advantage, you can’t let an opponent come into your building and have so many empty seats.
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.