Overcoming a sloppy first-half, the University of Maryland improved to 5-2 with a 76-57 victory over the Elon Phoenix of the Southern Conference.
The Good:
1) A strong night for Adrian Bowie who finished with 14 points, 8 boards, 7 assists, 2 blocks, a steal, and zero turnovers. He pushed the ball, and controlled the tempo in the 2nd-half.
2) Jordan Williams played the 2nd-half ticked-off, and dominated at both ends of the floor. He finished with 24 points, 13 boards, and 4 blocks.
3) Mosley was looking to score inside more often. His night would have been better if he had hit a few jumpers, but he had several strong cuts inside to get good looks. I was happy to see him get to the foul-line 6 times as well. He had a huge weak-side block, and also added 7 boards.
4) Despite having trouble on several long-rebounds, Maryland won on the boards 47-35. The Terps also used their size and strength to record 11 blocks.
5) Gregory had another good game, and continues to show an improved ability to hit a jumper from 10-15 feet. For the 3rd straight game he helped on the glass, adding 7 boards.
6) Padgett and Weijs both came off the bench and provided some defensive energy. Weijs had a nice offensive move for his basket. Padgett actually showed several nice moves, and even finished two of his eight shots. I kid, I kid. Give Padgett credit for his 5 boards, and 2 blocks.
7) Stoglin is a very capable outside shooter when he gets the opportunity to shoot the ball in rhythm.
The Bad:
1) After 10 minutes of play, the Terrapins were down 20-9, which is unacceptable. Elon was also up 34-31 at half-time, which is also unacceptable. When you play teams you are supposed to beat you have to take it to them early. If you let teams like Elon believe they can compete, sometimes you find yourself in a game late.
1a) It is hard to take it to teams when you are doing things to beat yourself. The first 10 minutes saw Maryland turning the ball over with regularity. This included several traveling calls, and poor passes. Whatever you want to say caused it, be it malaise from Thanksgiving the day before, a poor atmosphere in-front of a limited Comcast crowd, or Elon not being intimidated after playing road games at South Carolina and Wake Forest; the Terps simply did not look ready to play.
2) Despite being far superior athletically, MD’s defense was beaten down the court with regularity in the first-half.
3) Elon (like several other MD opponents this year) used ball rotation to free themselves up for a lot of open and uncontested shots from the perimeter. I don’t see why the Terps need to cheat and provide help defense when they are better than their opponent on a man-to-man basis. Elon finished the night just 9 for 33 (27.3%) from 3, but many of those 33 shots were without anyone in the shooters face.
4) Williams finished strong, but was again a non-factor in the 1st-half. Is this just a coincidence of the last-several games, or an emerging trend?
5) Another lack-luster night at the foul-line for Maryland, as they finished 13 for 22. The main culprit was again Williams who finished 4 for 8.
6) At the end of the first-half, Maryland had a poor offensive set resulting in a poor shot from Stoglin. As the Terps were beginning to pull away in the 2nd-half, Stoglin came in and showed poor shot-selection.
The Ugly:
1) The Terps played outstanding defense in the second-half. The effort was strong, and the intensity was evident. Why do I mention this in the ‘Ugly,’ section? I’m listing it here because it illustrated exactly what was missing from the Terrapins during the first 20 minutes of play. If this Maryland team commits to playing defense with intensity on every possession; they are going to be a difficult for everyone on their schedule. If they have subsequent games where their collective effort is lacking for 20 minutes, they will drop games they have no business losing.
Up-Next:
A potentially significant week is coming for the Maryland Terrapins with games at Penn State (ACC/Big 10 Challenge) on Wednesday and the BB&T Classic against Temple of the Atlantic 10 on Sunday (the 5th) at the Verizon Center.
After losing to Pittsburgh, and Illinois it is important for the Terps to gain these out-of-conference victories.
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.