Maryland Fails First Test, Falls to Cincinnati
by Ben Broman on Nov 24, 2009 9:08 PM EST
in Basketball
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PrintMaryland got their first taste of a "real team" today in Maui against Cincinnati, had another slow start, and couldn't overcome it this time. They never really got going and ended up losing handily, 69-57.
Lance Stephenson got his revenge with the win and 11 points, but he was never really dominant, nor terrible (though he did have two horrible, Duke-worthy flops). More to the point was Greivis Vasquez' continued struggles - he finally broke into double-digits today, but did it on 31% shooting. Against Charleston Southern and Fairfield, Maryland can get away with him being less than his best, but the Terps aren't talented enough overcome a lack of scoring from last year's omnipotent leader. Even though he started to look better as the game wore on, I'm still concerned.
No one showed up today, though. Eric Hayes was remiscient of last year with a quiet 5 points. Sean Mosley followed up his 19 point game against Chaminade with 7 points. Landon Milbourne was in foul trouble all game long, and only had 7. I can't think of one player who played well.
It wasn't that Maryland didn't get any shots - they missed plenty of open ones. Effort wasn't outstanding, but it was adequate. The problem was rather 36% from the field, 13% from 3, and 55% shooting from the line. Early on, the Terps were forcing shots, forced into bad situations by Cincinnati; later, they just weren't falling.
Defensively, they were...average. Cincinnati did a few lucky shots, but Maryland was often a step or two behind cutting players and fell for shot fakes. Getting outrebounded by ten didn't help. The main problem, though, was the offensive performance, not the defensive and rebounding one.
There's definitely a lot to be done before ACC play. We've learned that much, if nothing else. This also means that beating Villanova becomes completely paramount - otherwise, Maryland will have absolutely no good OOC wins, and the committee never likes that.
There's not much to say about this one other than there's a lot to work on, no one did well, not much went right, and Maryland is no longer unbeaten.
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I'm not sure if we were watching the same game...
I thought GV played very well, especially in the second half. He was definitely back to the old Greivis by the end of the game. To me, that’s a huge positive. The shots weren’t falling still, but I’m apparently not as concerned about that as you are.
And c’mon, NO ONE played well? I thought the JWill and Padgett played admirably, and didn’t look intimidated at all (though Padgett still looks horrible at the line). I actually thought Choi played decent, though I’d like to see him more aggressive offensively. One thing that hurt us was Mosley returning to last seasons layup-blowing form, and Hayes missing 3s he normally makes. But You know who I was really disappointed with? Milbourne. Wow, did he leave his game at Comcast or what? His defense and rebounding have been terrible these two games, and on offense he seems content with his little face-up jumper. He’s supposed to be a senior and team leader, and we’ll need much better from him, especially in the next few games.
You didn’t mention this at all, and I thought it was obvious: Cincinnati is very talented. I was doing some research before the game and was concerned about their talent and size, and frankly they were even better than I expected. In particular, I expected them to come out and play a helter-skelter, risk-taking defense that we could easily cut through with good ball movement and flex cuts. But their D was good, almost…2008-09 Memphis-like at times with the size and athleticism they have. This loss is not going to look so bad by the end of the season, especially if we come out and beat Gonzaga or Wisconsin tomorrow.
One final thought – Stephenson is a punk. He’s a great talent, but I’m glad we pulled the scholarship offer.
Stephenson's flop
was hilarious, even though we were losing at the time.
JWill and Padge were decent, but Padge was inconsistent and JWill didn’t finish all of his opportunities – we still need them to be bettter. Choi’s final minute or two were good, but he was lost before that, especially offensively.
Milbourne was in foul trouble the entire game, which really hurt. He’s only had 2 rebounds.
I guess Vasquez is a subjective thing, but his first half was very, very bad. The second half was miles better, but he still forced a lot.
The good thing is the season is young and we were going to lose eventually. Cincy’s not a terrible team, and we could’ve done much worse for a first loss. We’ll find out about the resiliency of this team in a few hours.
Re: Milbourne
I’m just frustrated that he always seems to get the benefit of the doubt when he sucks it up, while GV gets criticized for every bad shot. Milbourne is supposed to be a leader, too. He should have come into the season ready to battle on defense and on the boards as a 4. Two rebounds in 50 minutes is not going to cut it at any position really, but especially at 4. Foul trouble should not keep you from boxing out your man and getting boards. I also think he’s overrated defensively – everyone sees how athletic he is and he gets the occasional steal or block, but overall his D is average at best.
Vasquez played well on D and on the boards the whole game. Again, it seems to me that people are quick to jump on him when his D is poor, but don’t give him credit when he excels.
by jellisjenius on Nov 25, 2009 9:27 AM EST up reply actions
I'm not trying to defend Milbourne on the glass at all
His rebounding has been just awful. Something definitely needs to change there. It’s mostly effort and technique right now.
Defensively, he’s overmatched against almost everyone he goes against – they’re either more athletic or bigger. Considering those disadvantages, he did pretty well last year, and just got worn down at the end of the season I’m confident he can turn it around there, it’s just a question of when. He’s never going to be dominant, but he can slow some people down.
Overall I like Milbourne...
but I hate when I hear from people that said he didn’t do well at the end of last season simply because he was “worn down”. I understand he played out of position all last year, but basketball isn’t like football in which players actually get worn down due to taking a bunch of hits, having more injuries, etc. Either way, he needs to step up his game this year, and I think he will.
I didn't get to watch much, if any of the game, so
Did GV hog the ball and result in other guys not scoring as much? Or was it more a function of Hayes and Mosley having pretty bad shooting nights (in addition to GVs continued horrilbe shooting)? Those three combined were 9-30, and obvious 30% shooting. The rest of the team was 10/23, 43%…
Was shot selection ok? I only saw one GV shot, and it was an ugly in the lane twisting sky shot. Was he forcing it? Were the other two guys?
Were they getting rebounds due to better positioning and technique? Were they just bigger? Were our ugly misses long one’s that they were lucky to get?
Padgett was 4-6 with 5 boards and 9 points. If he could shoot FTs to save his life, he’d of had 10+ points. JW had 9 boards, so it seems like the new big kids are rebounding but the older guys aren’t doing their parts. Did the freshmen play good defense.
I think how we bounce back will be a big indication of how the rest of the season will go.
GV took a few bad shots, but especially in the second half he was on his game. The shot just wasn’t falling. Hayes was just off and then stopped shooting…Mosley looked like last season for most of the game. We settled for too many jumpers early on. Bowie needs to never shoot a 3 again.
Cincy is really, really athletic and talented at every position. They played 10 guys and all 10 are legit, so we couldn’t really wear them out despite the fouls. The way they defended us reminded me of Memphis last year in the tourney. Fortunately, they didn’t shoot lights out like Memphis did.
Milbourne was a complete non-factor on the boards. 22 minutes, 0 rebounds, and he’s our PF. But yes, Gates was just bigger and stronger than everyone else, he’s one of the best rebounders in the country. Their other players were strong and aggressive on the boards too.
Even with all that, if we make FTs as usual, this would’ve been a close game. You can’t miss as many shots as we did against such a good rebounding team and expect to have a chance.
The freshmen looked good, I thought. JWill had another little soft lay-in on one play where he should have dunked, but then came back the next time down and dunked with authority…unfortunately after the whistle blew. He held his own on the boards, just got into foul trouble. Padgett is an animal in the post, but Jamar Smith-like on the line.
by jellisjenius on Nov 24, 2009 11:07 PM EST up reply actions
Painful to watch...
Bowie is obviously trying to establish his outside shot to open up his game. Unfortunately, all he’s done is prove why opposing defenders should always give him space. I’ll trust GW to do what needs to be done, but I tend to think Bowie should be told to play his game and stop trying to prove he can shoot.
by jellisjenius on Nov 25, 2009 9:30 AM EST up reply actions
I'm worried
We shot it terribly. Terribly. That doesn’t worry me so much.
What worries me is how overmatched we looked on defense by Cincy’s athleticism.
I think (and hope) that if we played this game in February — after more practice/game action from the freshmen bigs and some conference play — we’d match up better and pull out a win.
Stephenson’s a player, but I can’t wait until Cincy has to forfeit all the games in which he played bc he wasn’t actually eligible.
Legs...? Offense? Free Throws?
We have shooters…top to bottom…Hayes probably the only lights out 3pt guy that should have freedom to take the deep shot at will. The shots will fall…we need to get used to the offense to get better, open shots is all.
We need to get back to where we were last year at the line…it REALLY helped us win games and could have changed this one considerably.
My concern w/ Vazquez is that he needs to calm down. I don’t think all the preseason hype has helped him. I’m not saying he is a full blown ego case at all. I think he feels the pressure and his love of the game/team/etc so much he wants to take all of his considerable energy and passion and exert max effort and take everyone on himself. This has so far resulted in more charges and turnovers than field goals and assists. He calms down and his game gets back to where he is SO effective.
I was surprised at how BIG Cincy is. This was a good experience although the results aren’t what we wanted.
Go Terps
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