BSL: Terps prepare for Ohio State with win over Morgan St; What did we see?
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The University of Maryland Terrapins improved to 5-2 overall, with a 89-62 win over Morgan State. The Terps will now prepare for a trip to Ohio State, next week in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
What did we see?
1) It was not a perfect game from MD, but generally the Terps controlled the game as you would expect against a team from the MEAC.
2) Maryland got out to a 14-5 lead to start the game, using an 11-0 run to push out the lead. At half-time MD was up 45-31. Morgan State had been on a run to close the deficit to 12 (72-60) with 5:36 left. MD answered that with a final 17-0 run in the final minutes.
3) The Terps were 17 of 29 (58.6%) from the floor in the 1st half, including 7 of 13 from 3 (54%). For the game, MD was 33-53 (62.3%) from the floor, and 65% (13 of 20) from 3.
4) Coach Turgeon stated at the half that MD was not playing hard enough. To me, the biggest negatives of the first 20 minutes were MD’s 8 turnovers, and their transition defense. For the game, MD finished with 18 turnovers. Three Terps (Smotrycz, Wells, and Peters) each had 4 turnovers.
5) Maryland had 15 assists on their first 17 FG’s. They finished the game with 26 assists on their 33 made baskets.
6) Peters had 4 assists, and 3 turnovers in the 1st half. He does a good job of keeping his eyes up, and seeing the floor with his height. He makes beautiful passes in each game, and does a good job getting penetration. He has to work on avoiding the lackadaisical errors. Peters finished with 7 points, 6 assists, and those 4 turnovers.
7) Dodd got into the game fairly early, and had an immediate basket. He also provided some good defense on Morgan’s Ian Chiles. In the 2nd half, he again got the call to provide a different defensive look to Chiles. He made a nice move rolling to the basket, as Wells found himself, but he was unable to finish while being fouled. At the line, he missed both FT’s. Dodd did have a 2nd half block. He’s a good athlete, moves well, has some hops. Coach Turgeon was pleased with Dodd’s defensive effort, saying Dodd moved well with his feet.
8) Cleare had 2 dunks in the 1st half, coming off good looks from Smotrycz, and Mitchell. He also badly missed a couple of FT’s, and was beat a couple of times on defense. So Cleare finished with those 4 points, but he only had 1 board, and had 4 fouls.
9) Mitchell had 5 points, and 5 boards in the 1st half. It was good to see Mitchell have good game on the defensive boards tonight. (10 boards overall, 8 defensive.) Another poor night for Mitchell at the foul line, as he was just 2 of 7.
10) Smotrycz had 11 points, and 6 boards at half. I kind of like when he gets the chance to facilitate for others from the top-of-the-key, but sometimes he can try and do a bit too much. A 3 from Smotrycz early in the 2nd half made it 53-34. He found a cutting Faust for a dunk down the lane. Late in the game, MD experimented with Smotrycz and Layman as the bigs. A 3 from Smotrycz with 3:30 left, pushed the lead to 23. Smotrycz finished with 19 points, 12 boards, and 4 assists.
11) Like Smotrycz, Layman was also 4 of 6 from the floor in the 1st half, and also had 11 points. He started off the 2nd half with a dunk. A 3 from Layman extended the lead to 18. A fifth 3 from Layman made it 64-41. A 7th 3 from Layman made it 80-60 with 4 1/2 minutes left. Layman finished with 27 points, going 9 of 12 from the floor, including 7 of 10 from 3. Layman also had 3 boards, 2 assists, and 2 blocks.
12) In the 1st half, MD only had 8 foul shots. For the game, MD was just 10 of 22 from the line. That means that MD shot better from 3, than they did from the line.
13) Maryland had a 20-14 rebounding edge in the 1st half, which was extended to 41-30 for the game.
14) Faust had a nice 1st half, with 3 assists, and 2 steals. He also limited the shot attempts to 5, which was good to see. Good game overall for Faust, as he finished with 8 points, 5 assists, and 4 steals. Coach Turgeon pointed out Faust’s defense and unselfishness tonight, saying he was very pleased with Faust’s floor game.
15) It was a quiet first 20 minutes for Wells. He hit both his 3 point opportunities in the 1st half, but was generally a non-factor (not that MD needed him to be beating Morgan State). In the 2nd half he got going with baseline jumper, followed with a finish on alley-oop to make it 57-36. He then had a beautiful block running the court as well. A dunk made it 74-60 MD with 5+ minutes left. Wells finished with 12 points, 5 boards, 4 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block.
