Terps crushed at Chapel Hill; The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

The University of Maryland fell to 16-13 overall, 6-9 in the Atlantic Coast Conference with a 88-64 loss to #6 North Carolina.

The Terrapins pulled with 6 just after half-time, and were within 11 (53-42) when Coach Turgeon was called for a technical with about 12 minutes left in the game. After the technical, UNC went on a 21-1 run over the next 5 minutes.

The Good:

1) Len’s first basket came from just within the FT line, as he showed good touch on the short jumper. Len had a good assist to Faust for a dunk. A Len jumper over Zeller, made it an 8 point game (48-40). Len had 6 points, 6 boards, and a block before fouling out.

2) Nice step back jumper from Faust, for his first two points. Calling ‘bank’, Faust hit a 3 to pull MD within 9 at 16-7. Faust scored again on a vicious dunk, after making a strong cut. Fantastic drive and dish from Faust to Padgett to pull MD within 8 (29-21). Coming out of half-time, Faust hit a 3 on the wing to make it an 8 point game. He then found Stoglin with a good look, which got Stoglin to the line. Faust had another strong cut to the rim, scoring on a pass from Mosley. Faust finished with 17 points, 5 boards, and 4 assists. Faust hit 3 of his 6 shots from 3 point land.

3) The shots were not falling for Stoglin, but I appreciated that he did spend time trying to fight for looks inside against the UNC trees. Stoglin finished with 16 points, and 5 boards.

4) Mosley and Len teamed for a nice block. Mosley’s first basket came on an intermediate jumper. The Senior led Faust with a perfectly delivered pass for a layup early in the 2nd half.

5) Maryland did a nice job of fighting through their early struggles and trying to compete. After being down 16-4 to start the game, the Terps pulled within 5 at 21-16. Down 11 at half-time, the Terps scored the first five points.

6) Padgett corralled a missed Parker 3, and went right back up for 2. Even when the game was completely over, Padgett continued to play hard and battle on both ends. I really respected his obvious effort. Padgett had 13 points, and 13 boards.

7) With 3 and 1/2 minutes left in the 1st, Weijs stood-up Henson with a block.

8) Late in the game, Parker caught a nice lob from Faust for a dunk.

The Bad:

1) Maryland’s first possession ended in a turnover, when Len was not able to come up with a low pass.

2) Attempting to work inside, Padgett had two shots blocked in the games first five minutes.

3) With the Terps down 10-4, Stoglin played the passing lane and looked like he had a steal. Had he come up with the ball, he would have had an open layup, but he knocked the ball out of bounds.

4) Down 12-4, Pankey blew an open layup when he heard foot-steps. Roughly a minute later, he missed two shots at the line.

5) At the 5 minute mark of the 1st half, 3 Terrapins (Faust, Len, and Pankey) each had two fouls. With 11 minutes left in the game, Len, Pankey, and Weijs each had four fouls. Four other Terps had two fouls.

6) Right around that 5 minute mark, the Terps turned the ball over on back-to-back possessions right around mid-court. With 2 1/2 minutes left in the 1st half this happened again. Too many points of turnovers.

7) Down 29-21, Weijs missed two FT’s coming out of a timeout.

8) Stoglin and Mosley combined to go 5 of 27 from the floor, including 2 of 11 from outside the arc.

9) This year Maryland has been in position (especially with Howard out) to have to continue to play players even when they are having a poor game. Tonight the Terps got next to nothing from Pankey and Parker, but both got significant minutes. Both of those players have had a number of strong efforts this year; but they have also put up inconsistent outings.

10) MD was 23 of 63 from the floor, including 5 of 20 from 3 point land. The Terps finished with 17 turnovers, and were blocked 6 times.

The Ugly:

1) During the first 9 minutes of the game, the Terps were 2 of 13 from the floor and had turned the ball over 5 times.

2) In the 1st first half, MD missed 8 layups. In the 2nd half they missed 3 more. Beating a Top 10 team is hard enough, when  you don’t leave points on the floor.

3) After a Faust basked pulled the Terps within 11 (53-42), Coach Turgeon was called a technical at the 11:44 mark. By the 9:05 mark the Terps were down 23. With 7 minutes left, MD was down 31 points (74-43), as MD allowed a 21-1 run.

4) MD put UNC on the line for 33 attempts tonight, with Zeller having 23 attempts of his own. The Tar Heels made the Terps pay for this, converting 27 of those 33 shots.