After a 4-0 start that featured some impressive offense output, Maryland men’s basketball played its first power conference opponent on the road against Clemson in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge and virtually nothing went right. The Terps missed over half their free throws, committed 15 turnovers and went into halftime trailing by 23 points in a 67-51 loss in South Carolina. It provided a wake-up call for the Terps that their remaining opponents are going to be better than Mount St. Mary’s and Saint Peter’s.
Starting with Monday’s game against No. 21 Rutgers, we’ll be able to learn several key things about Maryland after its first loss, especially when comparing the Terps to last year’s team.
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The most notable aspect of this game will be the lack of crowd. While there’s hardly a home team in all of sports that wouldn’t play better in front of the fans, Maryland has especially benefited of the home crowd in recent years. Last season it only had one loss at Xfinity Center and since their move to the Big Ten, the Terps are 93-14 at home. Admittedly, some of those wins have come against mid-major cupcakes but they’re still 45-10 in B1G play at Xfinity Center, with only Purdue and Michigan State having more home wins against conference foes since the 2014-15 season.
While Rutgers won’t put butts in the seats compared to an established Big Ten power like Michigan State, the fact they’re ranked definitely would’ve given the crowd some energy as well as Rutgers being the first power conference opponent to visit Xfinity this year. Maryland’s ability to provide its own energy could be important in a close game and a pair of pivotal free throws late in the second half for Rutgers in front of a bunch of cardboard cutouts instead of a loud student section could also be the difference. Maryland’s had time to get used to the unusual quietness of its home venue but facing a ranked conference team for the first time seems like it’ll be a different situation, and the team’s response could go a long way to seeing how they’ll handle the other tough opponents at home this season.
Regardless of the capacity of Xfinity Center, we’ll also get another game to figure out how Maryland will distribute its shots after the departure of its two best players. Even the most casual Terps fan could tell you that Maryland relied on Anthony Cowan and Jalen Smith a lot last year and the data backs it up. In Big Ten play, Cowan and Smith had 40 percent of Maryland’s field goal attempts and delivered 48 percent of their points.
In Maryland’s first power conference game in the post-Cowan/Smith era, Aaron Wiggins and Darryl Morsell each attempted 10 field goals, providing identical 2-for-10 lines, with Morsell adding a 0-for-2 performance at the free-throw line in a rough game for the senior. The focus on Morsell’s shots felt particularly notable, as Morsell averaged seven field goal attempts per game last year and only four of his 31 games last season saw him produce double-digit attempts. Meanwhile, Donta Scott provided an efficient day in the first key game of his sophomore year, going 4-for-7 including 3-for-4 on threes, becoming the only Terp to score in double-digit points against the Tigers. It’s unlikely the Clemson game or the Rutgers game will perfectly represent how Maryland runs its offense the rest of the year, but we’ll still get to see if Maryland takes a different approach after its rough meeting with Clemson. Has Morsell earned the trust to continue with 10 shots a game? Will Scott be taking more shots after a strong game? Rutgers will be our first chance to see how much Maryland changes its offense after a brutal loss.
While there weren’t many positives from the Clemson loss, Maryland did continue perhaps the most important trend that led to its shared Big Ten title last season: the Terps are a second-half team. Against Illinois at home and Northwestern on the road, the Terps overcame 14-point halftime deficits and a road meeting with Minnesota saw an even larger 16-point deficit erased thanks to Darryl Morsell’s game-winning three. The Terps couldn’t quite pull off a comeback against Clemson trailing by 23 at halftime but they did outscore Clemson 36-29 in the second half, shooting the ball much better with a 51.9 field goal percentage, including making half of the threes. Maryland will find itself doomed if it trails all of its games by more than 20 points going into the half, but the Clemson game was an encouraging first demonstration that Maryland could spend another year looking much better in the second half and could have another big comeback or two up their sleeve.
In past years, Rutgers coming to Xfinity Center felt like a cakewalk, with Maryland going 4-0 against the Scarlet Knights before last season and winning each game by at least eight points. Last year it was much closer, with Maryland winning by five points in a game that was tied with 2:12 left. Rutgers eventually beat Maryland when the Terps traveled to New Jersey last season and if we had an NCAA tournament, it seemed like a lock the Scarlet Knights would’ve made the dance. This year Rutgers is 4-0, having already beaten Syracuse by 10 points and is ranked. The Scarlet Knights will be a test for Maryland and we’ll have the chance to learn just how different this team will be in conference play during this unique year without last season’s two best players.
BSL Analyst
Rose Katz is a recent graduate of the University of Maryland’s journalism school, where she worked for The Diamondback as the online managing editor and a sports blogger. As a student, she spent almost all of her time on campus in The Diamondback’s newsroom or at Xfinity Center, Ludwig Field and Maryland Stadium. Rose gained intern experience with the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN).