Wake Forest Demon Deacons (10-5, 1-0 ACC)
At
Maryland Terrapins (10-4, 0-1 ACC)
Wed 7pm, Comcast Center, College Park, MD
Last game: Wake- def V.Tech 58-55 MD: lost to NC St 79-74
Leading Scorer: Wake- C.J Harris 18.3ppg MD- Terrell Stoglin 21.4ppg
The Terps return to the friendly confines of the Comcast Center in search of their first conference win when they take on Wake Forest Wednesday night. With their loss to NC State and having six conference games against Duke, North Carolina and Virginia, which are likely to all be losses, the Terps to need win the games they are “supposed” to win and this game is can be viewed as one of them. While Wake did beat a good Virginia Tech team in their last game, they still are expected to finish in the lower of the conference, so defending home court is a must for the Terps if they want to make headway in the ACC this season. Despite Wake’s struggles the last couple of seasons and their expectations coming into this season, the Terps can’t take them lightly or they will fall to 0-2 in the ACC come about 9pm Wednesday night.
C. J Harris paces the Demon Deacon scoring attack averaging 18 points per game and shooting 55 percent from three point range. Harris hit several big shots down the stretch in the win against Virginia Tech on Saturday and is more than capable of shooting the Demon Deacons to victory against the Terps. If the Wake defense can keep the Terps offense to 65 points or less then Wake will have a great chance to win the game, if they can’t they will need the likes of McKie(17.9ppg) and Chennault(11.1ppg) to compliment Harris on the offensive end to give them a realistic shot of winning. The length and shot blocking ability of Carson Desrosiers was a major factor in the win against the Virginia Tech and could also play a factor in this game.
Like many games this season the Terps struggled from the line, failed to make big shots and had no scoring outside Stoglin in their loss to NC St. There shouldn’t be too much taken from the last game as it was a road game against a quality opponent that many people expected to be a loss. Returning home against an opponent that has lost to the likes of Wofford and Richmond this season should get the Terps in the win column. There really is no hard hitting analysis needed when analyzing this year’s team, if they can get consistent scoring outside of Stoglin, hit free throws and get points and rebounds from Len and Padgett they will win.
Certainly this is a game that Maryland expects to win and one that I believe they will win. I do not put much stock in Wake’s win against Virginia Tech because they were at home, and only managed to score 58 points. This year’s Terps team will struggle to blow anyone out ,but being they have yet to lose to an inferior opponent and they play much better at home, anything less than a win would be a disappointment. Look for Sean Mosley and Alex Len to step up and help carry the offense. Expect a close game the whole way through but the Terps and hopefully their yellow uniforms to prevail.
Terps 67, Wake 61
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