Carolina came out shooting three’s early and often last night in their game against Maryland and to their benefit, they were draining them. As I said in my previous post, Maryland needs to defend the three or else teams like Duke or Carolina will bury this team if allowed to shoot that many three’s. As of last night, they are now allowing just under 20 three’s a game to opponents (22/per in ACC play). At this rate, if Maryland keeps allowing teams to shoot that many open three’s a game, they’re not going to be on the winning side much more the rest of this season.
Highlights of the game from ESPN
Maryland played with good intensity on the offensive side for much of the game as they traded baskets with Carolina frequently. The problem with that, when Carolina would make a three, Maryland would counter with a two, therefore not making up any ground in the actual score. Positives though, they shot above 50% from the field. They rebounded well including 16 offensive rebounds. They did drive the lane, didn’t miss any easy lay-ups and they were getting to the free throw line. They scored 91 points against the #4 team in the nation!
Maryland is a small team, mostly guards and forwards, and it should benefit them to drive the lane more often than not. This controls tempo and puts the other team’s star players in foul trouble. They shot a better free throw percentage than Carolina, but Maryland should average 25 – 30 free throws a game with their percentage. As of last night, they average only 17 per game. They should be able to defend the 3-ball more than any other team in the ACC with the size of their guards. I think Gary may have them working so hard on collapsing to the basket to rebound that they seem to be forgetting about the arc.
Ellington will ring in Maryland’s heads for a few days now as they look toward their next opponent, Georgia Tech, this Sunday the 8th. Teams are going to try and exploit the three against Maryland, My only hope is that they can start defending it before it’s too late. More importantly, I’d like to see Maryland put together a complete game of good inside and outside play so they can put more W’s up on the schedule.
