The 7-3 Maryland Terrapins will resume action tomorrow against the Florida Atlantic Owls.
Terp fans will be familiar with Florida Atlantic’s Head Coach Mike Jarvis, who spent time at George Washington and St. John’s.
Florida Atlantic enters the game at 5-6, having lost back-to-back road games at Miami, and Georgia. The Sun Belt Conference team lost those two games by an average of 17.5 points.
What Gary Williams is likely pointing out to his team is that while the Owls were dominated by Miami on the boards 48-25, Florida Atlantic showed improvement against Georgia, losing the rebounding match-up 38 to 31. Perhaps that improvement, is what helped allow Florida Atlantic to go to half-time with a 1 point on Georgia.
In both games the Owls threw-up a lot of 3 point shots, making 15 of their 47 (32%) of their attempts.
Florida Atlantic has 5 players (4 guards) averaging at-least 8.5 points per game. They are led by the guards Raymond Taylor (17.6 ppg, 37.7% from 3, 77% from the line), Greg Gantt (13.5 ppg, 37.7% from 3, 64% from the line, and Shavar Richardson (9.9 ppg, 41.9% from 3, 96.4% from the line). Not a lot of experience there, as Taylor and Gantt are Freshman, and Richardson is a Sophomore.
Things to Watch:
1) It bears watching tomorrow to see how Maryland does on the boards, and defending the 3 in comparison to Miami, and Georgia.
2) After scoring 12 points, and grabbing 8 boards off the bench (with 2 blocks) against Winston Salem; does Jordan Williams again claim a roll in the starting-lineup?
3) Raymond Taylor is listed at 5’6, 145 lbs, will Maryland attempt to regularly post-up their guards?
4) Who steps-up tomorrow? The Terps have numerous options capable of going for 17-20 points in a single game. Perhaps in-part due to that depth; it limits their players to provide consistent scoring on a game-to-game basis.
5) Bowie, and Tucker stepped-up and provided some production against Winston-Salem. I am guessing it was good for their overall confidence. In these remaining non-conference games, I would like to see that continue; and also see Gregory and Padgett grow comfortable with how they will be used going forward.
6) The Terps need to continue to focus on working inside out. Against a lower-D1 team, it can be easy to lag from the offense, and settle for jumpers. Move the ball around, and work the ball inside.
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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.