Today at Boston College is not a ‘must-win’ game for the Maryland Terrapins, but it is a game they ‘need’ to win.
There is a discernible difference between must-win, and needing to win a game you should.
There difference is that if you are like me, and believe Maryland will need 9 ACC wins (and possibly 10) to make the tournament, you look at the schedule and see this as a game the Terps need. However, if they were to lose, it is not a devastating loss. You can not suffer a devastating loss, when there would remain plenty of further opportunities for victories; including games you would presently mark off as an expected loss.
That preface behind us, I again do think this is a game the Terps need to win. With a victory, Maryland would pull even with the leaders in the ACC at 2-1 in conference.
Additionally, the Terps would be 11-5 overall, with 3 straight home-games coming against Longwood, NCST, and Miami. With a win today, the legitimate expectation should be a 14-5 record overall, and 4-1 in-conference before heading to Clemson on January 31st.
I have no illusions about today being an easy game though. Winning on the road in the ACC is typically a struggle, regardless of venue. As I mentioned the other-night, Boston College and the other former Big East teams (VaTech, and Miami) typically play a physical style of basketball, that the Terps have not handled well. More to the point, Maryland has often looked intimidated against those teams.
Al Skinner’s Eagles run a flex-offense, and like to press. It is often said that basketball teams hate seeing other-teams that do what they do. If that is the case, I guess both teams will have to deal with that today. Having faced Al Skinner’s former Asst. Head Coach Ed Cooley (Fairfield) earlier this year, might provide some advantage to the Terps.
Besides trying to build, and get on a bit of a run; you also want to leave Boston with the first conference road-victory of the season. With the Seniors Vasquez, Hayes, and Mibourne, and the Juniors Bowie, Tucker, Gregory – there is plenty of experience on the roster, used to handling adverse environments. Having that type of experience with 6 members of their 9 man rotation, should allow the Terps to be competitive in every road-game. The bottom-line though is that just being competitive is not enough, they are going to have put some wins on the board.
The Eagles are 10-7 overall, 1-2 in the conference. They have won games at Providence (Big East), at Michigan (Big 10), and against Miami. They have also lost games to Harvard, and Maine. After being within 3 of Duke at half-time Wednesday, they wound up losing by 20.
The box-score numbers that stick out to me, are that BC took just 10 three-pointers, and were just 16-27 from the foul-line. That points to not a lot of confidence in their outside shooting, and a mentality to get to the line. Not surprising due to their physical nature. If they get to the line that often against the Terps, Maryland will have some foul-issues. If BC converts at the line at a higher percentage, this probably winds-up being a close game.
BC has 7 players averaging at-least 6.6 points per game, and has a number of familiar names on the roster.
Junior Forward Joe Trapani is averaging 14.6 points, 6.7 boards, 80% from the line, and 34.2% from 3.
Sophomore Guard Reggie Jackson just had 20 points against Duke, and is averaging 13.6 points, 6.2 boards, but just 27% from 3.
Junior Forward Corey Raji (a former Terp recruit) is averaging 12 points, 7 boards, but just 55.8% from the foul-line.
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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.