Terps Notes; George Mason Preview

Moving to 3-0 this season, No. 20 Maryland beat Quinnipiac, George Washington, and Vermont last week. But while the Terps won their season opener against Quinnipiac in convincing fashion, its two most recent games weren’t so impressive.

Maryland defeated George Washington 71-64 on Nov. 11, but this was not a back-door cover by the Colonials. Maryland actually trailed by a bucket or two for much of the first half against George Washington before regaining the lead in the second half.

After trailing 30-29 at halftime, the Terps took over in the second half but their lead never grew to more than 12 points. Transfer center Qudus Wahab led the Terps with 18 points and 15 rebounds, while transfer guard Fatts Russell added 15 points and 6 rebounds.

Sophomore guard Joe Bamisile did most of the damage for George Washington, scoring 20 points. Former Terp Ricky Lindo Jr. also contributed heavily by stuffing the stat sheet with 13 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks, and 2 steals. The Colonials also had two other double-digit scorers in Brendan Adams (14) and James Bishop (13).

Clearly the defense wasn’t where it needed to be yet for the Terps. George Washington is a guard-heavy lineup, and Maryland had difficulty stopping it. And it wasn’t the outside shooting that was falling for the Colonials and killing the Terps (only 4-for-17 from downtown). George Washington was able to get to the basket and make their high-percentage shots, shooting 47 percent from the field as a team.

George Washington also played some stingy defense that gave the Terps some fits. Maryland shot just 3-for-20 from three (15%) and didn’t hit its first shot from deep until Donta Scott converted nearly 5 minutes into the second half.

The Terps took advantage of their bigger, faster bodies as well as the home calls and did most of their offensive damage from the free throw line. Maryland shot 20-for-29 from the charity stripe, but even that needs to be a higher percentage to beat better teams. The Terps matched the Colonials in turnovers (13) and points off turnovers (15), failing to take advantage of an inferior opponent.

Perhaps this was simply a product of a ranked Big Ten team taking a middling Atlantic 10 team lightly and not getting up enough for a non-conference game. But regardless of whether it was that or just the fact that Maryland had a lot of kinks to work out, the Terps only had a few days to figure it out as they hosted Vermont on Saturday.

Vermont is one of the better mid-majors Maryland plays this season. According to KenPom, Vermont is the highest ranked team the Terps have played so far and is the second best non-conference, non-Power 5 opponent Maryland will play this season with Richmond being the highest ranked.

The Catamounts didn’t flinch against their Power 5 opponent and gave the Terps all they could handle in College Park.

Vermont jumped out to a quick 11-4 lead, which it didn’t relinquish until three minutes left in the first half. However, the Catamounts regained the lead quickly and went into the locker room at halftime up four.

It was just two scorers doing almost all the damage for Vermont not just in the first half, but throughout the game. The senior backcourt of Ben Shungu and Isiaiah Powell got what they wanted when they wanted it, combining for 41 points on the night.

If you’re sensing a theme here, it’s because there is one. Maryland is struggling to defend guards so far this season.

And while Terps starting guards Fatts Russell and Eric Ayala held up their end of the bargain on the offensive end and combined to score 44 of Maryland’s 68 points, the defense from the backcourt duo just isn’t up to par yet.

However, the backcourt and Maryland as a whole picked up its defensive intensity in the last 10 minutes of the game, holding the Catamounts to just 11 points in that span.

Overall the defensive stats will look good on paper for Maryland. Vermont shot 35% and George Washington shot 41% and KenPom still has the Terps ranked 21st in defensive efficiency. But anyone who has watched the games can see that something isn’t right yet.

Hopefully the Terps can put out a more dominant effort in their next game against George Mason, which will take place Wednesday in College Park.

Coming through College Park from nearby Fairfax, Virginia, George Mason is 3-0 to start its season and ranks 153rd in the KenPom rankings. The Patriots are another guard-heavy team but their best player is junior forward Josh Oduro, who averages 19.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 2.0 blocks per game.

Kim English’s team is projected to finish in the middle of the pack in the Atlantic 10 and is considered a better opponent than fellow A-10 member George Washington. Maryland made it’s game against GW look hard enough so the Terps can’t get caught sleeping against the Patriots.

One thing that stands out about George Mason is its ability to shoot the three. The Patriots are shooting 40.5% from deep as a team and have a multitude of guys that aren’t afraid to let it rip from downtown. Their efficiency one two-point field goals isn’t bad either, sitting at a tidy 53.4%. Maryland hasn’t been getting burned by the three, but the Terps will have to be aware of George Mason’s shooters.

Hopefully the last two games were a bit of a wakeup call for the Terps, who don’t want to be a ranked team that drops an early season game to an inferior opponent. George Mason is a game Maryland should win, but the Terps have been playing with fire and need to be careful.