BSL: Terps lose at home to Oregon State; What did we see?
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The University of Maryland fell to 1-2 on the season, with a disheartening 90-83 home loss to Oregon State.
What did we see?
1) Going into tonight, I was looking to see if MD would get off to a better start than they had vs. Connecticut or Abilene Christian. The Terrapins went to half-time tied with Oregon State, and appropriately – Coach Turgeon wasn’t thrilled with the effort. Overall, we were anticipating a 10-12 point MD win, and instead the Terps fell to 1-2.
1a) Losing to a major-conference team is not a horrible, embarrassing loss (even if OSU lost to Coppin State); but this was still a game MD should have been expected to win at home. Oregon State was picked by Pac 12 Coaches to finish 10th in the league. If that occurs, OSU will likely be outside the Top 100 in RPI. More importantly, this gives MD two out-of-conference losses, with a 3rd expected when the Terrapins head to Ohio State. There is also the Paradise Jam awaiting next week, and forthcoming games vs. Tulsa at home, and George Washington at the BB&T Classic at the Verizon Center. The point being there are other opportunities for OOC losses. Losing games like this doesn’t end MD’s NCAAT chances. That would be a ludicrous statement in November. What it does though is force MD to play above existing expectations in Conference play (or steal that game at Ohio State).
2) MD’s comeback vs. UConn was started by Layman, as was their run vs. Abilene Christian. We know he can get scorching in a hurry. What we wanted to see tonight, was an outing where he was consistently impacting throughout. We did see him get going earlier tonight, as he had a dunk and a 3 in the first 6 minutes. There was a beautiful block from Layman at around the 5 minute mark of the 1st half. With just over 1 minute left in the 1st, Layman used a nice pump-fake to drive from the top of the key to the basket for the score – tying the game at 37. Down 12 (57-45), Layman hit a needed 3. Another Layman 3, this time with 9+ left, got MD within 2 (65-63). Layman had 12 FG attempts, 8 of them coming from 3. Layman had 15 points, and 7 boards.
3) Wells had 3 FG attempts vs. Abilene Christian. I don’t want to see another game this year, where his offensive impact is so non-existent. Five minutes into tonight, Wells equaled his FG attempts from Wednesday night. The game was tied at 27, when Wells had a terribly lazy pass leading to an Oregon State steal and fast-break. A 3 from Wells, made it a 1 point game (31-30) with 4:30 left. Oregon Stated started the 2nd half with an 8-0 run, before a Wells basket. After another OSU score, Wells had 3 points the old-fashioned way to make it 50-43. Wells took another good pass from Peters in the paint, scoring through contact. With the foul shot, MD was down 6 (61-55). With 6 minutes left, Wells took a charge. Wells picked up his 4th foul with 5 minutes left. Nice jumper in the lane to make it 74-70. He scored quickly with a 1 minute left to get MD within 3. Wells had a good game overall, finishing with 23 points, 8 for 8 from the line, 5 boards, and 3 turnovers.
4) Smotrycz came into tonight averaging 7.5 boards in his first two games as a Terp. ESPN’s Andy Katz passed on that Smotrycz’s rebounding was surprising Coach Turgeon. I thought it would be a good sign to see him continue that trend tonight. He finished with 5 boards. A 3 from Smotrycz put the Terps up 20-14. Trailing 27-25, Smotrycz used an effective ball-fake to get to the line. He would hit both FT’s to tie the game. As time was running down to end the 1st half, Smotryz did not settle for a jumper. He gained contact, and again got to the line. Nice move along the baseline at the 12:30 mark, scoring and getting to the line. The FT miss prevented MD from setting the defense though. MD pulled within 3 , when Smotrycz hit a 3 from the wing with 10 mts left. Another ball-fake and 3 from Smotrycz made it 76-73 OSU with 3:30 left. Smotrycz had 16 points, those 5 boards, 3 steals, and 2 assists. He also had 4 turnovers.
5) Maryland has played better when they’ve been less passive, and have been more aggressive on defense. I wanted to see the Terps gain some offense from defense. There were a few examples of this tonight, but not as much as I hoped to see. One of Coach Turgeon’s disappointments at half-time, was MD’s defensive effort.
6) Coach Turgeon spent a lot of the off-season talking about the need for Faust to be a lock-down perimeter defender. I wanted to see Faust get the assignment vs. Nelson. Nelson, who came into tonight averaging 30 points per game, scored 31 points tonight. Faust was not shy on the offensive end, taking 3 early shots to begin the night. He tied the game at 2 in the opening minutes of the game. Faust missed the front-end of a 1&1 with 10:30 left. Down 9, Faust hit an important 3 with 6 minutes left. Faust was 2 of 8 from the floor. He did have 6 boards.
7) Maryland did some solid work on the boards, winning the battle on the glass 39-32.
8) Mitchell was 12 for 16 from the floor entering tonight, and was averaging 7 boards. Starting or not, if he can consistently give MD post production, that is going to help a lot. Tonight, Mitchell continued to bring energy off the bench. Nice bounce in his step, and 8 quick points upon entering. Mitchell forced a move with 14 minutes left, badly missing everything. Down 5 with 7:17 left, Mitchell missed 2 FT’s. Mitchell finished with 10 points, and 8 boards. He was 0 for 4 from the line.
9) I wanted to see some positive play from Cleare. He had some decent games last year (NCST, Clemson, @GaTech), but I thought it would be good for his confidence, and that of Terps fans if he did something tonight. Cleare got on the board with an early dunk. Late in the 1st half he set a nice screen at the top of the key to open up a driving lane for Wells. He followed that by getting on the floor for a loose ball. In the opening minutes of the 2nd half, Cleare missed another opportunity for points when he could not handle a pass in the interior. Cleare finished with 2 points, 3 boards, and 3 turnovers. I’m rooting for him, but I’m really reaching for positives.
10) After not playing vs. the Huskies, Dodd had 3 blocks vs. Abilene Christian. I was curious to see if he would get additional time tonight. He did get some early time, but after not finishing inside with 8 minutes left in the 1st half, we did not see much of him the rest of the night.
11) Peters has had some good passes in his first two games, and played better overall in the 2nd half vs. Abilene Christian, but he came into tonight with 7 turnovers against 4 assists. I wanted to see that ratio begin to change. We saw a beautiful drive and dish from Peters to Mitchell, for a dunk from Mitchell. Peters had back-to-back drives and scores at around the 3 minute mark of the 1st half. The 2nd basket giving MD the 34-32 lead. Very smooth, and under control as he went to the basket. Taking a screen from Cleare, Peters drove the lane for another score, making it 53-45 OSU. Peters had a bad turnover at the 15 minute mark. Nice look from Peters to Wells in the paint. Peter got into double-figures, with another drive off the bounce. That basket made it 61-57. Loved seeing him continue to attack the basket. Beautiful 2 man game with Mitchell, getting MD within 4 (72-68). Peters finished with 10 points, 6 assists, and just 2 turnovers. His play was one positive of a bad night.
12) We said above that Coach Turgeon was disappointed with the 1st half effort. Turgeon noted that Peters was the only one attacking the Oregon State zone. He also mentioned that his MD program (and his prior programs at Wichita State, and Texas A&M) were built on defending and rebounding; and that MD was not doing either effectively. He could not have been happy coming out of half-time, and seeing Oregon State go on an 15-5 run over the first 3 minutes of the 2nd half.
