Seventh-ranked Maryland is now three games into the 2019-20 season, all wins with Rhode Island providing the biggest test as expected. This week brings on two more home games that the Terrapins will be expected to win, with Fairfield visiting Tuesday night and George Mason on Friday. While it’s still early in the season, there appears to be two attributes that Maryland can hang its hat on: offensive balance, and solid defense.
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While Holy Cross managed to scored 71 points in the regular season opener, that was a game that Maryland won by 24 points and really wasn’t challenged. Neither Rhode Island (55 points) nor Oakland (50) reached the 60-point mark, with the Rams shooting 29.9% from the field and the Golden Grizzlies 36.5%. Turnovers have been discussed ad nauseam in this space over the years, and with good reason as Maryland had issues with careless mistakes on its end of the floor while not doing much to force turnovers on the other.
But things went differently in those three games, as Maryland’s opponents turned the ball over on at least 16.8% of their possessions. And the number has increased in each outing, from 16.8% (Holy Cross) to 19.4% (Rhode Island) to 23.3% (Oakland). The rebounding has also been solid, with Maryland producing defensive rebounding percentages of at least 83.8% in the wins over Holy Cross and Oakland. There was a dip in the Rhode Island win, as the Rams corralled 35.4% of its misses, but that tends to happen when a team shoots less than 30% from the field.
Also good in the first three games was Maryland’s defending of the three-point line, with Maryland holding Holy Cross and Oakland below 30% and Rhode Island making just 30.6% of its shots from beyond the arc. Last season opponents shot nearly 32% from three in all games and 31.0% in Big Ten games, with the latter figure ranking fifth in the Big Ten.
Walling off the paint and forcing opponents to take contested jumpers would also help when it comes to keeping Jalen Smith out of foul trouble. That hasn’t been an issue in any of Maryland’s games thus far, but given the bigs that Maryland will encounter as the schedule gets more difficult keeping the sophomore star on the floor for as many minutes as possible will be key. He’s committed a total of four fouls through the Terps’ first three games, with all but one coming in the win over Rhode Island. That works out to just over 1.3 fouls per game, less than half his blocks average (2.7 bpg). So credit should also be given for Smith’s ability to contest shots without fouling in Maryland’s opening three games.
Offensively, as noted above this group has been balanced with five players averaging between 10.3 (Eric Ayala) and 14.3 (Smith) points per game. And as expected much of the scoring has come from the perimeter, with four of the top five scorers being guards/wings. Anthony Cowan, who leads the team with an average of 5.7 assists per game, is averaging 12.3 ppg, with Darryl Morsell (11.0) and Aaron Wiggins (10.7) next in line. And Maryland has been one of the best two-point shooting teams in college basketball thus far, making 62.4% of its attempts inside of the three-point line.
But things haven’t been as rosy from three-point range, with Mark Turgeon’s team making just 26.4% of its attempts. Wiggins (6.0 three-point attempts per game), Ayala (4.3) and Cowan (3.7) have been the most active in getting those shots up, so while the percentages haven’t been good at least this isn’t a case of the wrong players attempting those shots.
Cowan’s a career 34.2% shooter from deep, and while that isn’t great one would assume that in time he’ll be closer to that number than his current percentage (27.3%). Ayala shot 40.6% from three on 3.8 attempts per game last season; he’s begun the season in a bit of a slump but I’ll trust a 34-game sample size over what he’s produced in the Terps’ first three games. And the same can be said for Wiggins, who made 41.3% of his three-pointers as a freshman. For this week’s games, seeing those guys get back on track would be optimal heading into the Orlando Invitational Thanksgiving weekend.
While Maryland will be expected to win both games this week, the matchup with Fairfield sets up to be the easier of the two. Led by first-year head coach Jay Young, who was Steve Pikiell’s long-time assistant at both Stony Brook and Rutgers, the Stags are led offensively by junior guard Jesus Cruz. He’s averaging 20.3 points per game through Fairfield’s first three games, with fellow guards Landon Taliaferro and Taj Benning also averaging double figures. The front court is headlined by junior forward Wassef Methnani, who’s averaging a team-best 7.3 rebounds per game.
As for George Mason, Dave Paulsen’s team is off to a 4-0 start with five players averaging at least 10.8 points per game. Sophomore guard Jamal Hartwell, who averaged just over three points per game as a freshman, is up to a team-best 14.3 points per game thus far. Fellow guards Javon Greene, Jordan Miller and Xavier Johnson are also double-digit scorers, with forward A.J. Wilson averaging 10.8 points and team-highs of 8.3 rebounds and 4.5 blocks per game. While remaining solid defensively, through four games the Patriots have looked like an improved team on the offensive end of the floor.
BSL Analyst
Raphielle’s been writing about college sports for more than a decade, making the move to college basketball alone in 2013. Beginning his work with the former website CollegeHoops.net in 2003, Raphielle spent 3 years writing for NBCSports.com beginning 2013, covering CBB and the Olympics. In 2016, Raphielle joined Heavy.com. If there’s a game on, there’s a strong likelihood that he’s watching it.