Conventional wisdom would tell you that Nebraska’s stunning 70-58 wire to wire win over Wisconsin was great news for the Maryland Terrapins and their hopes of turning around a three week swoon with a win or two or three in the Big Ten tournament this weekend in Indianapolis.
Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t.
(You can discuss this on the BSL Board here.)
Wisconsin looked lethargic and disinterested from the opening tip. That was shocking considering the lunch pail approach that had won them 11 of their last 13 games. Nebraska had guys come off the bench I had never heard of to make play after play after play and, regardless of which new guy came in, he would invariably beat his Badger counterpart to a key loose ball or long rebound.
It was a lesson in work ethic delivered to a team that that had seemingly written the book on it.
So what does this mean for the Terps? The great news is obvious…they play a team that they are 3-0 against since joining the B1G and, more importantly, a team that will be playing their third game in as many nights. Buoyed by their performance last night and their familiarity with the arena, Nebraska is likely to start the game very fast. They swarmed Wisconsin’s Big Ten Freshman of the Year, Ethan Happ, in the post last night and will do the same against Diamond Stone and Robert Carter tonight. That has to be both expected and exploited if you’re wearing a Maryland uniform.
Nebraska is kind of a Big Ten Everyman. They may not make a lot of noise but they never cheat you with effort and have some very interesting things to throw at you. Their aggressiveness on defense made it seem like there were seven Cornhuskers on the floor at every turn last night. They have one of the really fine – and unheralded- players in the country in Shavon Shields and, coupled with Kansas transfer Andrew White (former Terps target) they offer a couple of guys who can score at will on the wings.
The million dollar question for Nebraska is: Can they keep all of that up in the second half of a slugfest with the Terps?
I always feel like if Maryland were to come out and smack Nebraska in the mouth early, it may take some of the starch out of the Huskers in their Night #3. But, for whatever reason, this team has not usually started that quickly. OK, let’s go to plan B here. I think if I could pick one area I would love to see this team get better in (aside from general toughness) is their ability to rebound defensively. I’m sure a lot of people – Mark Turgeon included- would like to see this team play at a faster pace. Since the team does not generate a lot of steals defensively the next easier way to control the pace is to own the glass.
The rebounding thing is even more important tonight. Undersized to begin with, Nebraska’s bigs may have serious problems with the number of players Turgeon is bound to use tonight. Piggy backing on the issue of fatigue, defensive transition is one of the first things that a tired team will lose. The Terps would be wise to pound the glass and push pace. They might not get too much out of it early but it should pay dividends late.
I keep waiting for Melo Trimble and Rasheed Sulaimon to play together at a high level at the same time. This weekend would be a fine place to start. If you get past Nebraska you’ll probably get a made for TV keeper of a semifinal against Michigan State. A win in a situation like that would make you feel like you’ve righted a few wrongs.
But I digress. Nebraska comes first. It’s called Karma.
Terps 79-64 tonight.
General observation….gotta love Big Ten fans. They’re in with their teams with all their hearts. You had two of the conference heavyweights (in terms of number of fans here in Indy) in both Iowa and Wisconsin go down in their first games. I would have expected to run into a bunch of Badger and Hawkeye fans today upset enough about their three night minimum down the drain to turn it into a three day bender. Not so. I ran into fans of both schools last night and this morning that were just planning on going to the games. Business as usual. Impressive. Better fans than I am.
Terps Analyst
A fixture in the Washington sports scene since his days as a player and a coach, Chris Knoche has accumulated a diverse resume as a media presence in town for more than two decades. That resume has earned him opportunities on both national and local stages and made him a Washington DC staple on radio, television and in digital media.