Just as the Maryland Men’s Basketball team started to roll, the Terps hit a speed bump on their path to success with back-to-back losses during their recent West Coast road trip.
Maryland’s disappointing 75-69 defeat at Washington on January 2 was its first since dropping one on the road at Purdue on December 8. Three nights later the Terps took on No. 15 Oregon in Eugene and gave the Ducks all they could handle but ultimately fell short, 83-79.
So if the Terps want to get their season back on track, where do they go from here?
Maryland will continue Big Ten play on January 10th when it hosts No. 22 UCLA, followed by games versus Minnesota and at Northwestern the next week.
While certainly not a gauntlet, the upcoming schedule does provide the Terps with a great opportunity to bounce back. UCLA will be Maryland’s second consecutive ranked opponent, but this time the Terps will have a home-court advantage. The Bruins are also hoping to bounce back after a loss. Mick Cronin’s team fell at the hands of Nebraska on Saturday, but that could be chalked up to a “trap game” after defeating No. 18 Gonzaga in a thriller less than a week before.
UCLA also played Washington and Oregon consecutively this season but fared better than Maryland, winning both including a two-point win in Eugene. A semi-away win against Arizona is also an impressive piece of the Bruins’ resume.
Defense is the calling card of UCLA, ranking fourth nationally in defensive efficiency, according to KenPom. But that shouldn’t scare the Terps, who play some stingy D themselves but are also scoring at a higher clip than the Bruins. UCLA deploys a four-guard lineup that Maryland will look to take advantage of with its size and skill down low. However, the Bruins have a talented big of their own in leading scorer Tyler Bilodeau.
Bilodeau is putting up 14.5 points per game and contributing 5.2 boards on average. He’s not going to want to bang with Derik Queen and Julian Reese down low too much as he’ll look to use his shooting to draw them away from the basket and create space for his teammates. But it will be a matter of which team can enforce its will on the other in this one.
Besides lineup composition, these two teams also differ in pace. Maryland likes to run the floor while UCLA remains one of the slowest-paced teams in the country under Cronin. It should be an interesting clash of styles with both teams motivated to get back in the win column. The Bruins will also be motivated by their loss at home to the Terps last season.
Minnesota, statistically, is Maryland’s easiest upcoming opponent, but if the Terps perform well against UCLA they’ll have to avoid the emotional letdown against the Golden Gophers.
Ben Johnson’s team starts four seniors and has more on the bench, so this is an experienced group that could take advantage of a team sleeping if given the opportunity. Minnesota’s 6-foot-11 center Dawson Garcia is one of those seniors and he can flat-out score the rock. He’s averaging 19.1 points per game to go along with 7.2 rebounds, both lead the team.
A gritty bunch no doubt, the Golden Gophers are deep and are still looking for a big win this season. Beating Maryland would be a good start if they hope to do anything this year. It’s hard to do, but Minnesota plays at a pace that is actually slower than UCLA. So, if nothing else, the Terps will get similar looks in consecutive games and can perhaps take some lessons learned against the Bruins into this matchup. Maryland lost at Minnesota last season, so revenge will be on the Terps’ minds.
Northwestern is another team Maryland lost to on the road last season. In fact, the Terps lost to the Wildcats at home too. So Kevin Willard still has to prove he can beat Chris Collins’ team and it won’t be easy with the squad Northwestern has this year.
At 10-5, the Wildcats have hit a skid of late with back-to-back losses to Penn State and Purdue. But both were on the road and neither can be considered a bad loss, as the Nittany Lions and Boilermakers are both having strong seasons.
A win over Illinois earlier this year shows that Northwestern can hang with any Big Ten team on any given night. With another crawling pace similar to UCLA and Minnesota, the Wildcats protect the ball and take the ball. They fit the gritty, defensive-minded approaches of the two teams Maryland will play before this game so it should be nothing new to the Terps.
Can Northwestern’s three double-digit scorers — Nick Martinelli, Brooks Barnhizer, and Jalen Leach — do enough in what will likely be a low-scoring game?
It still feels like it could be a promising season for the Terps, but it all starts with righting the ship against UCLA. Losing two close games on the West Coast shouldn’t derail an entire season if this Terps team truly has what it takes. A 1-3 start in conference play is less than ideal, but there’s nothing but opportunities to improve that mark moving forward.
Time to see what type of resolve this group has.
Terps Analyst
Pat has been covering sports in the DMV area since 2012. He is a former Washington Redskins beat reporter for PressBoxDC.com and has been covering University of Maryland football and basketball recruiting and daily beats for Rivals.com’s Terrapin Sports Report since 2013. Pat graduated from College Park with his master’s degree in journalism and has received bylines in publications such as USA TODAY Sports, The Philadelphia Inquirer, SB Nation, and Yahoo! Sports. A Philadelphia native, Pat enjoys fishing, golfing, and playing fantasy sports when he’s not covering or watching a game.