Maryland fell to 12-6 overall as they dropped a 72-60 decision in Philadelphia against the Temple Owls. The outcome could easily have been different today, but the Terps repeatedly hurt themselves with turnovers, and poor decisions.
This loss hurts, as MD had a chance to improve their out of conference resume.
The Good:
1) Maryland’s first FG came on a nice drive from Howard. He would tie the game at 18, when he a floater while drawling contact. At the end of last year, Howard was hitting unguarded 3’s. Since his return to action this year, he has really struggled from outside and that continued in the 1st half today. With his 3 point shot not falling, he stepped in a few feet, and hit a few intermediate jumpers. This seemed to get him going, and he hit a couple of shots from outside. Howard finished with 15 points.
2) Coach Turgeon went to the bench early, getting Pankey, Faust, and Parker into the game by the 16 minute mark.
3) Faust’s first bucket came on a nice drive to the rim. He followed that with another strong drive which got him to the line. He was facilitating for his teammates today, with a particularly nice look to Stoglin for 3. Faust finished with 5 points, 4 boards, and 4 assists.
4) One of the many things Stoglin does well offensively is move without the ball. Mosley found him on a nice backdoor cut, which got Stoglin to the line. In recent games he has seemed to be more aggressive about looking for his teammates. Today he found Padgett underneath, after driving the lane. Stoglin finished with 20 points.
5) Coming off a curl, Parker hit a nice intermediate jumper from about the FT line. Nice follow-slam from Parker off a Padgett miss. He finished with 7 points.
6) Padgett did not have a good game on the boards, and also had too many turnovers. What he did well though, was work hard on the offensive end. He was calling for the ball, and getting the Temple defenders up in the air with his up and unders. He pulled the Terps within 4 at 55-51 with a strong move. Padgett had 10 points, shooting 5 of 6 from the floor.
7) Mosley had 10 rebounds, and 2 steals.
The Bad:
1) Maryland won the opening tap, but did not get a shot off, as Mosley’s attempted pass to Len went out of bounds.
2) Padgett had a couple of early turnovers, with one coming on a travel, a second coming when he could not corral an offensive rebound, and a third with a poor attempted pass to Len.
3) Showing more explosion then on probably any other play in his Collegiate career; Mosley went down the lane strong for an attempted flush, but threw it off the backboard. Not only was he not able to finish the play, it cost MD two points they should have had.
4) Maryland was allowing Temple too many uncontested 3’s, and simply benefiting from the Owls missing shots. If you are not going to get out on the shooters, then you need to have a clear rebounding advantage with your defenders packed inside.
5) With 6 minutes left in the 1st half, the Terps had 7 made FG’s, and 7 turnovers.
6) Maryland had a lot of opportunities to close deficits today. Seemingly every time they were in this position they either turned the ball over, or at-least had a possession that resulted in a poor shot.
7) When you are trying to come back in a game, you can not just trade baskets. MD was pushing in waves on offense, and running the court fairly hard. I did not see the same intensity with their defense for much of the 2nd half. Even when Temple hit just 1 FG over a 6 minute period, that was mostly about the Owls missing open shots vs. anything the Terps were doing.
8) On a 2nd half possession, two Temple defenders left their man to cover Stoglin, leaving Pankey wide open underneath, but Parker did not find him. Stoglin would score on the possession, but it was an example of poor court awareness.
9) With about 6 minutes left in the 2nd half, Temple had a very long possession, when MD could not run down rebounds on two long missed 3’s from the Owls.
10) MD was 12 of 21 from the FT line with Faust missing 3 attempts.
11) With Padgett and Pankey not doing work on the boards, and Len out of the game, I think Weijs could have received a few minutes of time.
12) Maryland had 15 attempts from 3, and made just 4 of their shots.
13) Faust was just 1 of 7 from the floor. Howard had only 1 assist.
The Ugly:
1) Today was another example of a how much is being asked of Stoglin. Without another consistent scorer on the floor, the ball goes to Stoglin every-time the Terps need a shot made. Often he comes through and keeps MD within striking distance. If he misses a couple of attempts, or is out of the game, teams are able to pull away.
2) Len missed most of the 1st half, and all of the 2nd half with an ankle injury.
3) Temple came out in the 2nd half and buried two quick 3’s to push their lead to 8. The lead would later climb to 12. MD was able to pull within 1 at 57-56, only to see Temple go on another run.
4) Padgett and Pankey had 7 rebounds, and 5 turnovers. Mosley provided excellent rebounding, but 3 points and 4 fouls from him is not sufficient.
Owner
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.