Under head coach Tony Bennett, No. 7 Virginia plays one of the most unique – and most suffocating – brands of defense in college basketball. Maryland knew it would need a tremendous shooting night to beat it, but Mark Turgeon's team didn't get one. Without the hot shooting that benefitted them for so much of the season's first month, the 21st-ranked Terps had no path forward in a 76-65 loss before 15,371 at XFINITY Center on Wednesday.
The Cavaliers' defense entered allowing teams just 30 percent field goal shooting and a national-low 43.6 points per game. Maryland was better than that, shooting 40 percent and managing 65 points. But Bennett's renowned pack line defense, where the Cavaliers sprint back on defense to prevent fast-break chances and relentlessly pressure the ball in the half-court, forced the Terps into their worst shooting night of the year.
Virginia big men Mike Tobey, Anthony Gill and Darion Atkins sealed the offensive glass all night, so the Terps had to drill shots on the first attempt. They usually didn't.
"Our goal is always to try to take away the lane, which we didn't do well, but always make them take contested shots and really just limit them as best as possible to one shot," Bennett said afterward. "And to see only three offensive rebounds makes me smile."
Virginia's system is unique, and Bennett has the reputation of a defensive mastermind. His Cavaliers form a tight but flexible ring around their own basket, and they rotate seamlessly to pressure whichever opposing player has the ball. Virginia was especially locked in for the game's opening few minutes; the Terps didn't get their first points until almost five minutes had passed. The offense picked up a bit eventually, but not enough to make a serious dent.
"I really thought we were locked in that first six, seven minutes," Bennett said. "You could see there wasn't any gaps. They were contesting shots."
It doesn't hurt Bennett's set that the players executing it all happen to be good at it. Guards Malcolm Brogdon and London Perrantes are superior athletes, as is small forward and Terrapin nemesis Justin Anderson. With closing speed like theirs, gaps close quickly. Maryland had almost no easy baskets all night.
"Their defense is really solid," Maryland freshman guard Dion Wiley said. "They play a lot of help defense, and they shoot the gaps, so it was really hard to penetrate."
Yet Maryland got into the lane and drew Virginia into 28 fouls. The Terps took 36 free throws and made 27 of them, making for an unusually high proportion of foul line offense. If there was anything encouraging about the Terps' offensive showing, it was that Melo Trimble got to the stripe 14 times – even if it wasn't enough to put Maryland over the top.
"We added our drive game here, for them, and we were pretty good at it, really," Turgeon said about combatting the defense. "But I think we got maybe stuck with it a little bit too long, got a little bit out of rhythm."
Virginia plays at a remarkably slow pace. The Cavaliers are the fourth-slowest team in college basketball by tempo on offense, according to Ken Pomeroy, and they force teams to use an average of 20 seconds of shot clock on every defensive possession. They virtually shuttered Maryland's transition game, with an early on-the-break layup from Wiley giving the Terps their only such points. In the half-court, nothing came easily, either.
"They contain the ball really well. They contain penetration," senior guard Richaud Pack said. "Once you beat penetration, that second-line defender is always there. They rotate really well. They move in unison."
The Terps struggled on defense, too, ceding 18 layups on 26 baskets and a 53 percent shooting night overall. But it was Virginia's defensive excellence that ruled the night. Maryland trailed for 38:23 of a 40-minute contest, because the Cavalier defense never let Maryland have a serious offensive run. They have Wisconsin on their schedule later this year, but the Terps won't face a tougher opponent than they did Wednesday.
"Give them a lot of credit," Turgeon said. "We didn't quit, and we kept trying to respond, and I think we will be a better team after playing Virginia."