BSL: Terps rocked in Columbus; What did we see?
http://baltimorespor...d-columbus-see/
The University of Maryland Terrapins lost 76-60 at #5 Ohio State, in MD’s last year representing the Atlantic Coast Conference in the ACC / Big Ten Challenge.
With the loss, MD falls to 5-3 overall. There was hope that MD could pull the upset, and add a major Out-of-Conference scalp to their Tournament resume. Since that did not happen, MD’s primary OOC wins remain their victories over Northern Iowa, and Providence in the Paradise Jam. MD will hope to add further RPI Top 100 wins against George Washington (This Sunday at the BB&T Classic at the Verizon Center), and later against Tulsa and Boston University at home.
What did we see?
1) We saw Maryland get embarrassed in-front of a National audience. At the half, the Terps were down 17 points. In those first 20 minutes, MD was just 10 for 29 from the floor (1 for 8 from 3), with 10 turnovers. MD struggled to score, and just get into offensive sets. Defensively the Terps were being scored on easily as well. Ohio State went into the half making 54% of their shots, including 6 of their 10 3 point attempts. For the game, MD was 24 of 61 (39%), while OSU was 25 of 48 (52%). The Terps were 2 of 18 from 3 point land, and only had 13 foul shots. Ohio State had 25 attempts from the charity stripe.
1a) Losing on the road against a Top 5 team on the road, isn’t overly surprising. The disappointing aspect was that the game quickly got out of hand. Ohio State is one of the premier defensive teams in the country, and MD’s PG issues were really exposed.
1b) For MD to compete against a National power, Wells and Layman have to bring their A games. That certainly didn’t happen tonight, and it was reflected in the score. Though Wells gets some credit for improving his play in the 2nd half.
2) MD led on the boards 23-15 at the half, with 11 of them coming on the offensive side (with the lack of shooting contributing). For the game, MD won the boards 44-30.
3) One bright spot in the 1st half for MD was the play of Charles Mitchell, who had 8 points, and 8 boards off the bench. He twice had baskets to end large runs. He also had MD’s first points of the 2nd half with a nice reverse. Mitchell finished with 12 points, 11 boards (9 offensive).
4) Smotrycz had the Terps first 5 points, and went to the half with 9. He finished the game with 15 points (6 of 12 from the floor), and 7 boards. You could tell he was the most comfortable Terp in this new environment for MD. Not surprising giving his prior Big Ten experience.
5) Layman got on the board early with a nice drive to the basket. However, that was his only points of the 1st half. Layman finished the half 1 for 5 from the floor, and 0 for 3 from 3. Things did not improve for Layman in the 2nd half. Maryland’s offense looked abysmal with out Layman providing his normal scoring. That initial basket was Layman’s lone basket of the night. He was 1 for 9 from the floor, with 7 boards, 1 assist, and 2 blocks.
6) Like Layman, Wells had just 1 basket (1 for 7) in the 1st half. The half ended on a very ugly note, when OSU picked Wells pocket and scored as time ran out. Wells scored on back-to-back drive to make it 48-32 with 17:00 left in the game. Another layup got MD within 14. That was as close as MD got the rest of the way. For the game, Wells finished with 19 points (8 of 17 from the floor), with 3 boards.
7) Ohio State’s LaQuinton Ross went off early, with four 3′s to put the Buckeyes up 18-9. It felt like an earlier adjustment was needed. With Allen out, MD’s two best perimeter defenders are Faust, and Ram. At 6’8, 220 lbs, Ross has strong size. Obviously too much from Ram. He’d probably overwhelm Faust in the post as well. However, with Ross standing out on the perimeter, I would have liked to have see Faust really lock in on him.
8) Ram and Dodd both got a fair amount of time tonight. Ram’s time was really extended. I think Coach Turgeon kept Ram on the floor, because without anything else going right; he respected Ram’s defensive effort.
9) Maryland had just 6 assists for the night. Pretty incomprehensible.
10) The Terps finished with 14 turnovers for the game. A liveable amount overall, but the poor PG play extends beyond turnovers. Peters did have 4 assists, but had 5 turnovers and was clearly in over his head. At least he got this experience, he will be better served for it going forward.
11) Maryland’s strong 2014 recruiting class, and a rematch vs. Ohio State can not come soon enough. I don’t think it will take long for Terp fans to establish new rivalries in the Big Ten.
