Coming back from a 9 point 2nd half deficit, the University of Maryland beat the Denver Pioneers 62-52. With the victory, the Terrapins improve to 24-12 on the year, and will face the winner of Alabama/Stanford in Quarterfinals of the NIT.
The Good:
1) Maryland’s first basket came off a steal, and fast-break; finished on a dunk from Wells. With a steal and a layup,Wells gave MD a 7-6 lead. Driving and scoring once again, Wells put MD up 9-8. Scoring inside early in the 2nd half with a leaner, Wells pulled MD within 1 at 30-29. Two FT’s from Wells pushed MD within 4 at 48-44. Using a quick 1st step, and his strength; Wells bodied up his defender and scored in the post while being fouled. With the FT, MD pulled within 3 at 50-47. Again backing down his defender, Wells scored inside to make it 53-50. Wells finished with 19 points, going 7 of 10 from the floor, and 5 of 5 from the line.
2) Dribbling into the lane, Faust scored against contact. With his FT, he pulled MD within 1 at 6-5. Hitting a 3 from the top of the key, Faust put MD up 12-11. Beautiful bounce pass from Faust to Wells for a layup. Leaning into a shot in the 2nd half, Faust earned a trip to the line. Knocking down his FT’s, he tied the game at 31. Driving the lane, Faust caused Udofia to pick up his 4th foul with 8:40 left. Faust had 3 steals.
3) Len had an early block. Using his size advantage, Len scored through contact to make it 18-17. He would also add a FT. Stepping-through, Len scored inside to make it 27-26 Terps.
4) Allen came up with a steal at the 11 minute mark of the 1st half, and drove down the court to score. His layup made it 16-14 MD. Driving the lane, Allen scored on a spin move, putting the Terps up 21-17. A 3 from Allen, put the Terps up 25-24. Down 8 with 10 minutes left, Allen drove the lane and scored. The Terps took the lead back from Denver, with Allen scoring from just within the foul-line. Driving the lane, Allen put MD up 8 with a minute left.
5) Beautiful spin move on the baseline from Mitchell to get to the foul line. Mitchell followed a miss from Faust, to tie the game at 33. Following his own miss, Mitchell pulled MD within 1 at 36-35. Good work on the boards from Mitchell.
6) Scoring off the left-hand, Padgett scored to make it 40-37 Denver.
7) Since MD’s bigs could not do anything against the smaller Denver lineup, it was a good decision from Coach Turgeon to go smaller in the middle of the 2nd half.
8) Aronhalt made it a 1 point game, passing up a 3, stepping into a jumper from 17 feet.
9) Denver was up 48-39 with 9:15 left. At the TV timeout with 3:45 left, the Terps had taken a 51-50 lead. Good job by MD to battle back.
10) With 2 minutes left in regulation, Layman hit a 3, to put MD up 6.
11) MD shot well from the FT line.
The Bad:
1) A lazy pass from Wells led to a turnover on MD’s 2nd possession. Dribbling into a double team, Wells turned it over in the 2nd half with extra-steps.
2) Down 5-2, Len got past his 6’5 defender, and missed a wide-open shot at the rim. The 2nd half started with Len missing from 17 feet. A minute into the 2nd half, he picked up his 3rd foul. With 13 minutes left, Len picked up his 4th foul with a charge.
3) With the Terps leading 7-6, Layman turned the ball over with a bullet pass that Len could not catch. With 16 minutes left in the 2nd half, Layman missed a layup. Layman picked up his 4th foul with 9 minutes left.
4) Denver was down 14-11, when Udofia had a dunk on the in-bounds, while being fouled. Making his FT, he tied the game.
5) Despite coming up with a couple of offensive boards, Mitchell missed 3 successive lay-up attempts.
6) Possession went back to Denver, when Cleare lost the ball in the paint, and a jump-ball was called. He lost the ball by bring the ball down low.
7) At 16-15 MD, Aronhalt turned it over, getting caught up in the air. Aronhalt missed several open 3’s.
8) Denver was using the Princeton offense to backdoor-cut MD to death.
9) At the half, Len and Mitchell were a combined 2 of 10 from the floor. The tallest Pioneers player on the floor, was 6’6 194lb Foward Chris Udofia.
9a) Udofia had 19 of Denver’s 30 points in the 1st half, going 7 of 9 from the floor. It was embarrassing how long it took for adjustments from the Terps.
10) MD had just 4 shots from the foul-line in the 1st half, hard to understand with Denver being over-matched physically.
11) At the 15 minute mark of the 2nd half, Faust missed everything with his air-balled 3.
12) With just over 10 minutes left, Allen turned it over, leading to a 3 point play for Denver, as the Pioneers pushed their lead to 8.
The Ugly:
1) Maryland went to the half, trailing Denver 30-27.
2) Denver entered the game, 347th overall Nationally in rebounding. At the half, the Terps had just a 13-12 edge on the boards.
3) I understand that Len is going to get drafted based on his potential. He has a good skill set, and he is a plus athlete. However, he clearly is not strong enough to battle the more physically mature bodies in the league, and tonight showed he can also have trouble against smaller quicker guys. If Len can’t dominate a Denver front-line headlined by a 6’6 Forward, that is a problem.
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.