Terps Win Exhibition Over IUP; The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

In their lone exhibition prior to the beginning of their 2012-13 season, the University of Maryland beat the Indiana University of Pennsylvania 73-61.

The Division II Crimson Hawks were coming off of a competitive 69-54 loss to Pittsburgh last week. Maryland’s starting lineup – Howard, Faust, Layman, Padgett, and Len – was not a surprise, and was what we have been projecting. Mitchell and Allen started the 2nd half though, and both Freshman had excellent games.

After being down at half-time, the Terrapins took control with a 12-0 run in the opening minutes of the 2nd half, never looking back.

The Good:

1) Faust gained Maryland’s first points, going to the rim, and drawling a foul. On the following trip down the floor, he had a short jumper. He would also connect on his initial 3 point attempt. A 2nd 3 pointer from Faust gave MD the 18-14 lead. After catching a knee early in the 2nd half, Faust hit a 3 immediately after coming back into the game. This capped MD’s 12-0 2nd half run. Coming out of a timeout, MD was in a 1-3-1 zone, and Faust quickly stole the ball. Faust finished with 13 points, and 2 steals.

2) Mitchell was a monster on the boards tonight, finishing with 15, to go with his 8 points. Obviously he had a physical advantage over the Crimson Hawks, but it was still impressive, and still Mitchell’s first game a Collegian. After firing up a 15 foot jumper on his first shot (which was missed), Mitchell had his first basket following an offensive board. Mitchell tied the game at 23, using his strength to score. A nice pass from Mitchell to Aronhalt in the 2nd half, gave Aronhalt an open look. After setting a screen, Mitchell peeled off and hit a jumper from the corner in the middle of the 2nd half.

3) With the Terps up 13-10, Cleare earned a trip to the line with good penetration from Allen. Allen used his quickness to get a steal, and a layup for a 15-10 lead. I was really impressed by the charge Allen got on the defensive end, by hustling back down the court. Coming off an in-bounds, he buried a 3 from the top of the key, putting MD up 21-16. Allen pulled MD within 1 at 26-25, with a jumper. Allen’s 9th and 10th points came on a pair of FT’s early in the 2nd half. He got to the line after forgoing an open 3, to explode to the basket. He followed with a 3 on the next time down the court, giving MD a 4 point lead. What a game for the Freshman, as he finished with 16 points, 5 assists, and 5 steals.

4) Len scored his first points, with a jumper from 15 feet. After doing little most of the 1st half, Len hit a pair of FT’s with under a minute left, and followed with an aggressive layup. Len had a beautiful block to start the 2nd half. Fed the ball in the post, Len had a great outlet pass to Layman for an open look from 3. Len finished with 8 points, 5 boards, and 3 blocks.

5) Leading 9-5, Maryland got out on the break on a IUP miss. The Terps swung the ball around, and gained an open look for Layman. While that was missed, Len was there to clean up on the glass.

6) Howard got inside against the IUP zone, with Padgett cleaning things up with a 2 hand slam. The Terps went up 42-36, on a jumper from Howard in the 2nd half. Howard’s 2nd FG was a 3. Howard had 9 points, 5 assists, 3 boards, and just 1 turnover.
6a) In the 2nd half, Padgett fought through contact to score in traffic with 5 mts remaining.

7) Up 11-8, Coach Turgeon brought in 4 reserves together – Cleare, Mitchell, Aronhalt, and Allen to go with Faust. Several times we saw wholesale changes.

8) With 1:39 left in the 1st half, Aronhalt hit a 3, pulling the Terps within 1 at 30-29. The Terps went up 7 (47-40) on Aronhalt’s jumper from 15. Maryland went up by 10, on a pure looking shot from Aronhalt with just under 10 minutes remaining. Aronhalt had 8 points.

9) Layman’s first points (coming out the line), seemed to get him going. He was aggressive hustling to the ball. His first FG came on a pretty baseline floater. I liked that Layman was looking for his shot, as the Freshman finished with 7 attempts. Allen set-up Layman’s 2nd FG, a dunk coming from the baseline. Layman finished with 7 points and 4 boards.

10) Maryland was 16-20 from the line, with Allen hitting all 5 of his attempts, and Howard going 4 for 4.

11) The Terps finished with 11 turnovers, but were not overly sloppy with the ball.

12) Maryland was 9 of 21 from 3 point land, with Faust burying 3 such attempts, and Aronhalt hitting 2 of his own.

13) The defensive effort picked up in the 2nd half, and Maryland’s depth might have also played a part.

The Bad:

1) Maryland missed way too many open looks in the 1st half. A lot of the misses came from the Terps going up soft, and not finishing.

2) Mitchell’s first attempt was a jumper from 15 feet. Mitchell did a good job of clearing out space, but missed a layup late in the 1st half when he did not use the glass. He had a turnover on a poor outlet pass in the 2nd half.

3) Cleare missed a 1st half dunk. His first two attempts from the foul line were also missed, and it immediately looked like he lacked confidence from the charity stripe. With a sparse crowd, you could hear Turgeon imploring Cleare to get back and be more aggressive in the 2nd half.

4) Padgett, who had dunked his first opportunity, did not finish an easy look with MD up 18-14. After the dunk, he missed his next 4 attempts. The Senior did not look like he was going to be positioned to hold off Mitchell from starting.

5) Leading 21-18, Howard delivered a fast-break pass to Cleare way to far out from the rim. With the Terps up 70-57, he missed a lay-up.

6) IUP went up 30-26, with Len and Padgett both being beat to the ball inside.

7) We heard all Summer about Len’s physical gains. We have heard since Maryland’s practices started, how dominating he has been in practice. In the 1st half tonight, he had just 4 shots. I don’t want to see another half all season, where 5 of his teammates have as many attempts.

8) With about 4:30 left in the game, Faust settled for a 3 from the top of the key, when he could have attacked the basket. He finished with 4 turnovers.

9) I liked seeing Layman look for his shot, but he missed 3 open looks from outside the arc. He is supposed to be a plus shooter, and Maryland is going to need him to show he can bury a sizable percentage of those attempts.

The Ugly:

1) Maryland fell behind 23-21 on a 3 from Keita with about 4:30 left in the 1st half.

2) The Terps allowed a layup with 2 seconds left in the half, and went to the locker-room down 1 at 34-33. IUP had been within 6 last week at Pittsburgh, but Maryland being down at the half against a Division 2 (even though they are good for that level) is still disappointing. Especially as Coach Turgeon has said in recent days he has been unhappy with the intensity at practice.

3) The battle on the boards was basically even, with Maryland having the 43-39 edge.