It was the Greivis Vasquez show in College Park last night as he and the Terps bounced back with a blowout win over the Virginia Cavaliers. Vasquez go the Terps going early, scoring 25 of the Terps 52 first half points, and help establish a tempo that UVA could not keep up with. The Terps were extremely effective at running their flex offense, leading to many open looks, especially in the first half. A half which saw Maryland shoot 70 percent from the field and score just 4 less points than they did for the entire game at Duke. UVA put up a fight for a little while, but the game was essentially over when Vasquez hit a three to push Maryland’s lead to 42-27. Maryland 7-3 in the ACC, tied for 3rd place with Virginia Tech and trailing Duke and Wake Forest.
Other bright spots for Maryland were the play of Jordan Williams with 11 points and 11 boards. Williams bounced back after a rough game at Duke, although aside from Mike Scott UVA has no other interior players that challenged the Terps. Landon Mibourne also played an efficient game, scoring 14 points on 7-11 shooting. Eric Hayes led the Terps with 9 assists and Cliff Tucker, Dino Gregory and James Padgett contributed with solid play off the bench.
Offensively the Terps were sharp, but they gave themselves a lot of room for error by the way they played defensively. Slowing UVA guard Sylven Landesberg was a big part of the defensive gameplan. A combination of Vasquez, Tucker and Sean Mosley limited Landesberg to 12 points on 5-13 shooting and most importantly kept him off the free throw line.
The Terps have dominated their ACC opponents on their home court. Undoubtedly, this is a good thing, but the veteran Terps need to find a way to up their level of play on the road. The open looks that did not fall against Duke were all finding the bottom of the net last night. The fact that the UVA game was not close allowed Gary Williams to limit his starters minutes. Hopefully that means fresh legs for Maryland’s 3rd game in five days on Wednesday. Fortunately for the Terps, their next road trip is to 2-9 NC State, a team the Terps beat by 24 points in College Park.
Given Maryland's current record in the ACC (7-3) and the remaining schedule – @NC State (should win), GT @ Home (should win), Clemson @ Home (can win), @ VT (probable loss), Duke @ Home (Bruz has MD on a lunch bet with the first BSR member to come forward), and @ VA (should win) Terps should get to the magical 20 wins, and in my book a probable 10-6 in the ACC. If these things come to be, where would that put MD in the tourney? This is a definite down year in the ACC, but given the history of the conference, a 10-6 record and a 20 win season should give MD a decent seed in the tourney. Thoughts? Also, still waiting on someone to take on Bruz and the points versus Duke.
Just to be clear, STG, The Bruz wants Garyland and the Points vs Duke!
STG, I have seen the Terps projected as anywhere from a 7-9 seed int eh NCAA's. I don't think that is likely to change much if the Terps finish out 3-3, considering the down year in the ACC. Should the Terps finish 11-5 or 12-4 and make some noise in the ACCT, I think you could see them be a 4-6 seed. Maryland's problem is that they don't have a lot of impressive wins and they have few opportunities to get more considering the remaining schedule.
Also, I think the GT game will be tough. The Jackets are athletic and Lawal and Favors will give them fits inside. GT's guard play is not great, so that will play in MD's favor.
JP…I've got a counter-point to your "fresh legs" comment near the end of your excellent article. Every D-1 basketball game, televised or not, comes with eight mandatory game stoppages (first whistle after the 16.00, 12.00, 8.00, and 4.00 minute marks of each half, along with up to 10 time outs by the two teams. So with an average of 12 – 14 game stoppages each night, plus the halftime break, plus the fact no one plays all 40 minutes, not to mention that these are 18 – 23 year old athletes who would be practicing if they weren't playing games, I don't buy in to the notion of "fresh legs" at all.
Bruz, I tend to agree that the Terps should not be too physically drained. Playing 3 games in 5 days (2 on the road) is a concern because college b-ball players are not asked to do it very often. Maybe the greater concern is the mental preparation needed to get your intensity and effort up without as much lead time as they are used to. Even though State looks like a win, the Terps will need to focus on playing their game and giving the effort this team needs to.