Maryland's modest 3 game winning streak came to an end, as Pittsburgh beat the Terps 79-59. With the loss, MD falls to 10-6 overall, 2-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The Terrapins will next travel to Florida State for a game vs. the Seminoles Sunday night.
What did we see?
1) The first ACC game played at Pittsburgh saw a competitive 1st half, with the Panthers leading 36-30. In the first 20 minutes, MD was 12 of 28 (43%) from the floor. While that was positive, the Panthers were even better; making 13 of their first 26 (50%) attempts.
1a) The 2nd half was all Panthers, as Pittsburgh controlled the action. Pittsburgh shot 53% for the game, with MD finishing at 36%. MD had 8 assists on their 20 made baskets, while Pitt had 18 on their 29 baskets.
2) Maryland had a 19-13 rebounding edge in the 1st half. The teams finished even on the boards, with both teams having 36.
3) One of the reasons for the Panthers 1st half lead, was that they were 7 of 11 from the FT line, while MD had managed to get just 2 attempts from the charity stripe. The final score could have looked even worse had Pitt shot better from the line. The Panthers were 15 of 25 at the foul line, while MD was 11 of 15.
4) A lot of Terrapins played reasonably well in the 1st half. One that did not was Jake Layman. Layman was 0 from 4 from the floor, and looked to be more of a liability vs. an asset. With 13 minutes in the 2nd half, he had his first basket - scoring after a huge offensive board, with a follow. Getting to the line a 2nd time, he hit 1 of 2 to make it 61-49. I liked what we saw a few attempts from Layman to score inside in the 2nd half, but it was another lost game in as a whole for the Sophomore. Layman finished with 3 points, going 1 for 7 from the floor, and 1 of 3 from the FT line. He had 4 boards, and 2 blocks. We've stated it several times this year, but MD's offense just looks inept when he is not scoring.
5) Maryland's leading scorer in the 1st half was Smotrycz, who hit all three of his 3 point attempts. In the 2nd half, he missed 5 straight FG attempts before scoring at the line. That was followed by another miss from 3. Finally again hitting from outside, Smotrycz made it a 10 point game with 5 minutes left. All told, Smotrycz was 4 of 13 from the floor (1 of 9 in the 2nd half), finishing with 14 points, and 4 boards. 11 of his 13 attempts were from 3.
6) The Terrapins had 7 turnovers in the first 20 minutes. For the game, the Terps finished with 12 turnovers. Wells was the worst offender, as he had 4.
7) Seth Allen had 7 points in the first 20 minutes, going 2 of 5 from the floor. One of his baskets was a long 3. He was consistently getting good penetration, but several times missed shots in the lane. Allen started the 2nd half for MD, and his scoring increased. Wells would find him for an open 3, to pull MD within 5 (38-33). Down 11 with 14 minutes left, Allen hit a huge 3. Another long 3 from Allen beat the shot clock, and made it 63-52 Pitt. Allen finished with 18 points, going 5 for 11 from the floor, including 4 of 7 from 3. He was also 4 of 4 from the FT line.
8) Graham had some defense off the bench. In the first half he added 4 boards, with 2 points. The basket coming on a hook shot just outside the lane. Down 52-44, Graham dribbled a captured rebound out of bounds. His second half was quieter, as he added just 1 rebound to his 1st half totals.
9) Cleare started MD's scoring, getting good position inside, and immediately finding the basket. That was his lone attempt of the 1st half. A good put-back from Cleare, made it a 5 point game (40-35 Pitt) early in the 2nd half. He finished with 4 points, and 4 boards.
10) After back-to-back very positive games from Faust, he was not able to sustain that run tonight. At the 17 minute mark of the 2nd half, he did finish a nice alley-oop from Allen. Getting out on a break, Faust finished to pull MD within 11 (59-48) with 11:30 left. For the game, Faust had 7 points and 4 boards. He was 2 of 7 from the field, 0 of 3 from 3.
11) Wells had 4 points on 3 shots in the 1st half. Both baskets coming on jumpers in the lane. He finished with 5 points, 3 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, and those 4 aforementioned turnovers. He took just 6 shots. ESPN relayed Coach Turgeon's comments about Wells playing not being afraid of playing on the road. Wells might not be afraid, but that was a very passive performance. This team needs Wells to positively impact pretty much every game.
12) Peters air-balled a 3 in the 1st half, and had to deal with that chant the rest of the night. He did a fair job of getting penetration against the Panthers zone. He finished with 4 points, 2 assists, 1 steal, and 1 turnover. It wasn't a particularly strong performance, but he didn't look overwhelmed by his surroundings either.
13) In the middle of the 2nd half, Coach Turgeon went to a zone defense with Dodd on the court.
14) Down 20 with less than a minute left, Coach Turgeon called timeout and laid into his team. Presumably, he was not pleased with the defensive effort.
15) After 6 points, and 11 boards vs. Georgia Tech, Mitchell had just 2 points, and 3 boards vs. Pittsburgh tonight.
