Terps over BC; The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

The University of Maryland got back to .500 in Atlantic Coast Conference play, with a 64-59 win over Boston College. With the win, the Terps are now 15-4 overall, 3-3 in the ACC.

It is understood that you always take conference wins however you can get them. It is also understood that BC has recently played several other close games against ACC foes. Still, tonight was a bit disappointing, because it felt as if Maryland’s physical advantages should have allowed for the Terps to pull away from Boston College – especially at home.

Still, you take this win, and you immediately turn the focus to Duke on Saturday in Durham.

The Good:

1) Charles Mitchell scored right away to start the game, getting great position down low. A strong power move got Mitchell to the line early in the 2nd half.

2) MD’s 2nd possession saw the ball go into the post for a 2nd time, with Len scoring his first basket. Nice board from Len at the 15:30 mark. Len’s 2nd basket put MD up 9-4. Good job getting around the pick, and great use of his hands and athleticism on his dunk at the 7:30 mark. Following-up his own miss, Len pulled MD within 3 at 29-26. A follow-dunk from Len put MD up 38-36. A dish from Wells gave Len another dunk opportunity, as MD took a 52-44 lead. Another Len basket inisde made it a 7 point game, with 5 minutes left. Len had a double-double, finishing with 16 points, and 14 boards.

3) Layman hit his first shot of the game, a 3 from the wing. This put MD up 7-2. Nice entry pass to Len, for Len’s dunk at the 7:30 mark. Something I really liked seeing was Layman cutting to the rim and scoring to start the 2nd half. Layman used a quick 2nd jump to follow his own miss, and get another basket inside. Another 3 from Layman, gave MD a 5 point lead (48-43), with 9 minutes late. Off a BC turnover, Layman went up and under for 2, making it 54-49. Layman finished with 15 points.

4) Mitchell didn’t finish, but Wells delivered a good pass to the Freshman big with 15 minutes to go in the 1st. Wells hit a 3 with 4:46 left in the 1st half, to give MD a 23-20 lead. Good look from Wells to Cleare for a basket in the middle of the 2nd half. After finding Cleare, he found Layman for a 3 from the wing. Was good seeing Wells use his ability to create for others. That was followed-up with Wells finding Len for a dunk a short time later. Getting out, and running the floor; Wells scored, giving MD a 58-52 lead with 2:07 left. Wells finished with 8 assists.

5) Howard entered the game, and delivered passes to both Cleare (who was stripped), and Len (who did finish) down low. At the 12 minute mark of the 1st, he did a good job of pulling the ball back out.

6) Aronhalt’s first basket came on a layup. His 2nd basket was from outside, putting the Terps up 14-7. Another Aronhalt 3 tied the game at 43 with 11 minutes left.

7) Good strong rebound from Cleare at the 10 minute mark of the 1st. Cleare’s first basket came in the 2nd half, putting MD up 45-43.

8) Faust attacked the basket in transition, putting MD up 16-9. He did this again with 11:30 minutes left in the game. With the ball in his hands, he looks like has the ability to get to the rim anytime he wants. At the 8:45 mark, Faust beat his man again, and again scored inside. With under 2 minutes left, he buried an open 3 from the wing. Faust had 11 points, and 7 boards.

9) Allen tied the game at 29 with 1:14 left in the 1st half,  on his first 3 pointer of the game. After missing a layup in the closing seconds of the 1st half, Allen ran down the other side and got a block. Allen was able to penetrate and distribute a nice dish to Padgett for a slam. This put MD up 36-34.

10) As one would expect, MD won comfortably on the boards. The Terps controlled the scoring in the paint, and also the points on follow-attempts.

11) The Terps had 14 turnovers, which is pretty good for this team.

The Bad:

1) Up 4-2 in the first 2 minutes of the game, Wells turned it over with extra steps. Wells had his 2nd turnover, on a lazy pass into the post with 9:30 left in the 1st. A 3rd Wells turnover came a minute later, with a pass to nobody. Wells picked up his 3rd foul less than 2 minutes into the 2nd half. Wells had just 5 FG attempts.

2) Maryland’s 2nd turnover came with Mitchell dribbling the ball off of his foot. Mitchell missed a monster dunk with under 6 minutes left. After a power move got him to the line early in the 2nd half, Mitchell missed both FT’s. Getting the follow on the 2nd miss, he picked up a charge. Mitchell had just 2 points, and 1 board.

3) At the 17 minute mark of the 1st half, Faust was stripped, leading to a BC layup attempt. After scoring by attacking the basket on the previous trip down the court, Faust had an ill-advised alley-oop attempt to Allen which resulted in a turnover. Early in the 2nd half, Faust lost the all again around mid-court. We mention above that it appears Faust has the ability to get to the rim anytime he wants. Thus it is frustrating when numerous minutes go by without him doing so. Len Elmore was correct, it was a total lack of focus from Faust, on Faust’s turnover with 40 seconds left. Faust finished with 4 turnovers.

4) With MD up 7-2, Cleare got good position in the post, but was stripped before his shot attempt. That led to a BC basket.

5) Padgett entered the game at around the 12:30 mark of the 1st half. He immediately had an open layup that he could not finish.

6) Up 11-5, MD came out of a timeout, and had a poor possession.

7) After Len’s dunk put MD up 18-11, the Terps allowed 3’s on back-to-back-to-back trips down the floor for BC. This allowed BC to tie the game at 20. BC took their first lead at 26-24, hitting their 4th straight 3 point attempt. A 5th 3 pointer made it 29-24. Credit BC for hitting  some shots, but it was a poor job from Coach Turgeon and the Terps to adjusting to what BC was doing.

8) With just over 10 seconds remaining in the 1st half, Allen got by his defender, but missed his open layup attempt.

9) The game was tied at 32, with 17 minutes left in the 2nd half, when Layman picked-up a charge.

10) At 38-38, Len settled for a jump hook. He had a shot from closer in if he took another step. A moving screen on Len give BC the ball with 6:30 left. At 56-52, Len was called for a charge. This gave BC the ball back with 4:45 remaining. With 2:35 left, Len got in trouble when he did not keep the ball high.

11) Bad shot from Aronhalt with 51 seconds left.

11) Despite their size and strength advantages, MD was only able to get to the FT line for 12 attempts.

12) Cleare had just 2 points, and 1 board.

The Ugly:

1) Maryland was down 41-38 with 12 minutes left in the game. Padgett was the only big on the floor for the Terps. With the ball thrown inside to the Senior, Padgett missed everything from close in.

2) It was out of Maryland’s hands, but on another court tonight, NCST was upset by Wake Forest. That hurts the Terps, because the Wolfpack is MD’s best win so far this year.