Game Preview: West Virginia

Opponent: #20 West Virginia Mountaineers (24-9, 11-7 Big 12 Conference)
Date: Sunday, March 22, 2015
Time: 8:40 PM ET
TV/Radio Broadcasts: TNT, Maryland Sports Radio Network
Venue: Nationwide Arena (19,500)

Key Regular Season Wins: Kansas, North Carolina State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State (2), Texas
Key Regular Season Losses: Baylor (3), Iowa State (2), Kansas, LSU, Oklahoma, Texas
NCAA Tournament Win: Buffalo

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Maryland Beats Valparaiso

In their first NCAA Tournament game since the 2010 season, and the first one under Head Coach Mark Turgeon, the Maryland Terrapins were able to hold on to beat Valparaiso by a score of 65-62. While the Crusaders had a chance to get up a game-tying shot with the clock winding down, senior guard Varun Ram was able to come up with the game-winning steal for the Terrapins. It was a tight game throughout for Turgeon’s club, not unlike most of their other wins this season.

No one player led the Terrapins to this win, but team resolve (helped by Valparaiso not taking advantage of several opportunities) got the Terps a date with West Virginia in the Round of 32 on Sunday. Melo Trimble, Dez Wells, and Jared Nickens all led the way with 14 points each, with Nickens holding the hot hand from beyond the arc. Damonte Dodd and Evan Smotrycz both followed up the guards with 8 points each. In a very surprising statistic, Trimble led the team on the boards with 10 rebounds. While rebounding was a big strength of Valparaiso’s game, the Terrapins actually out-rebounded them by one. (Though it should be noted that the Crusaders had an 11-4 advantage on the offensive boards.)

While the Terrapins have struggled offensively against zone defenses in the past, they did an acceptable job against Valparaiso’s zone attack this evening. They were able to move the ball inside to Wells and Smotrycz, who then kicked the ball out to the team’s shooters. Nickens was especially potent against the zone defense, knocking down 4 of his 7 attempts from beyond the arc. Smotrycz played a lot of minutes for Turgeon this evening, and was inconsistent at times. However, his defensive skill was evident in many of Maryland’s big defensive stops (slow-footed laterally, he was able to get plus positioning several times and force multiple chargers vs. the Crusaders), and he stepped up offensively down the stretch. Turgeon was forced to play him a bit more than he probably would have liked, as Jake Layman got into foul trouble early. Layman struggled once again, scoring just 4 points, all of which came on free throw attempts. For the game, Layman had just 1 FG attempt. Richaud Pack also struggled, and never got on the board for the Terrapins.

It certainly was not the prettiest game for Maryland, but they were able to do what they do best: win a close game. They’ll need to be much more consistent on both ends of the court when they face West Virginia, who will make you pay for sloppy basketball.

West Virginia Preview

The West Virginia Mountaineers are coming off of their own tight win – as they advanced to Sunday with a win earlier today vs. Buffalo. The Bulls were a popular upset pick by many people around the country, but Bob Huggins’ team was able to squeak out a 68-62 win over the Bulls in Columbus. Starting forward Devin Williams led the Mountaineers with 17 points in the game, while also grabbing 9 rebounds. Senior guard Juwan Staten also played a big role for West Virginia, putting up 15 points and recording 7 assists. The biggest shot of the game came from sophomore guard Tarik Phillip, who hit a clutch 3-pointer off the bench with 28 seconds left in the game to put Buffalo away.

The highlight of West Virginia’s regular season came when they beat then-#8 Kansas at home by a score of 62-61. The game was lost for the Jayhawks when junior forward Perry Ellis missed a potential game-winning shot at the buzzer. In that game, the Mountaineers were led by Staten, who scored 20 points and recorded 4 assists. Freshman guard Jevon Carter played a big role off of the bench, scoring 13 points and recording 2 steals.

The rest of the regular season wasn’t so kind to the Mountaineers. They lost to the Baylor Bears three times, and to the Iowa State Cyclones twice. They were able to beat Oklahoma State twice, and split each of their two game series with Kansas and Oklahoma. Their non-conference schedule was solid, and they took care of business, beating Boston College, Connecticut, and North Carolina State. They did fall to LSU in a very close matchup.

The Mountaineers rank 36th in the country in points per game, and 169th in points allowed per game. They are very aggressive defensively however, and are the best team in the country in steals per game. While they score a lot of points, they don’t do it very efficiently, as they rank 282nd in the country in field goal percentage.

Entering play Friday, the Mountaineers were 27th in the Ken Pomeroy rankings. 37th in Adjusted Offense, 46th in Adjusted Defense, 27th in Adjusted Tempo, and 52nd in Luck For comparison, MD came into today at 32nd overall, 55th in Adjusted Offense, 39th in Adjusted Defense, 199th in Adjusted Tempo, and 1st in Luck.

Maryland Preview

The Terps were able to survive and advance against Valparaiso; but a similar effort vs. West Virginia will not be sufficient. Clearly the Mountaineers pose a bigger challenge to Turgeon’s team than the Crusaders did this evening. West Virginia is one of just a few Big 12 Conference teams left in the NCAA Tournament, as Iowa State, Baylor, and Texas all found themselves on the losing end of their Round of 64 matchups.

West Virginia is known for their pressure defense, which will remind many Maryland fans of Gary Williams’ defenses in College Park. The Mountaineers are aggressive to a fault defensively, which results in many poor decisions by opposing ball-handlers. Bob Huggins’ squad leads the nation in steals per game, speaking to their aggressive nature on the defensive end of the court. However, this defensive aggression also leads to an inordinate number of fouls. In their game against Buffalo, the Mountaineers committed 25 personal fouls. They also forced the Bulls to commit 17 turnovers. Maryland will need to be ready to spend a lot of time at the charity stripe when they face West Virginia. Buffalo attempted 25 free throws, but made only 64% of their attempts. In the Terrapins’ game against Valparaiso, they attempted 24 free throws, converting on 75% of them.

Coach Turgeon will need to focus on having good ball-handlers on the court at all times for his Terrapins. Trimble will obviously play a lot of minutes, but don’t be surprised to see increased roles for players like Pack, Nickens, and perhaps even Ram. West Virginia will prey on poor ball-handlers, so it may be wise to limit roles for players like Layman, who averages the most turnovers per game by a player other than Wells and Trimble (who handle the ball with great regularity). The Mountaineers are not a very tall team, and usually run with a 3-guard lineup. Players like Dodd, Smotrycz, Jonathan Graham, and Michal Cekovsky should have a size advantage over some of the Mountaineers’ big men.

Defensively, the Terrapins will need to key on Devin Williams down low and Juwan Staten up high. Williams is the Mountaineers’ 5-man, standing 6-foot-9 and weighing in at 255 pounds. He averages 11.3 points per game, but put up 17 in their NCAA Tournament win over Buffalo. He also averages 8.2 rebounds per game. Staten is a very good senior guard for Coach Huggins, and he averages 14.5 points per game. This season, he has made 36% of his 3-point attempts, and is second on the team in 3-point shooting. Off the bench, look out for freshman guard Jevon Carter. While he is a bench player, he is third on the team in minutes per game behind Williams and Staten. Carter averages 8.5 points per game and makes 33% of his attempts from beyond the arc. The Terrapins should also watch for junior guard Jaysean Paige off of the Mountaineers’ bench. While he only averages 13.9 minutes per game, he leads the team in 3-point shooting, making 39% of his attempts.