FanPost

Maryland basketball film review: Terps' defense vs. Cleveland State

Mitch Stringer-USA TODAY Sports

Maryland has lacked consistency on both ends, playing to the level of their competition far too often. In the first half Saturday's win over Cleveland State, it was the same old story. The underdogs led as late as 27-26 before the Terps took a four-point lead into halftime.

Coach Turgeon mentioned afterwards how disappointed he was in the team's defensive effort in the first half. Let's review the porous defense that allowed the Vikings to hang around far too long, and then take a quick look at how Maryland ideally wants to play defense.

On several occasions, Robert Carter seemed reluctant to leave his man for his help defense assignments. His indecisiveness made him late to stop penetration, leading to easy buckets. Here Layman gambles for a steal, leaving the Terps playing 4-on-5. Carter probably should switch onto the ballhandler, and direct Layman to his man at the top of the key. Instead, Carter gets caught in no-man's land.

The slightest of hesitations or miscommunication will be punished at this level. Carter showed frustration with himself at a few momentary slips in focus during the second half. My guess is the coaching staff challenged him at halftime, and he responded with renewed intensity.

Diamond Stone looks like he's still getting up to game speed as a freshman. It's only my speculation from a distance, but he seemed to tire quickly. As a result, his positioning and footwork suffered, leading to blow-bys. Stone is too upright here to stay in front of the dribble drive.

In the play above, Carter again does not commit himself fully to help responsibility. Knowing that he's not guarding a sharpshooter, Carter needs to clog the lane as soon as Stone gets beat. He knows what's being asked of him, but it's about instilling the discipline to follow through with the gameplan. I would expect this to be ironed out over the course of the season.

Repeatedly in the first half, Maryland misplayed their standard pick-and-roll defensive scheme. Most often, Coach Turgeon will have his bigs hedge out beyond the 3-point arc to force ballhandlers away from the basket. This gives time for the defending guard to scramble around the screen and get back into position. This is not always how Maryland plays, but it is their preferred approach.

In this play, Carter does not get out far enough to hedge. At the very least, he needs to corral the guard back towards Layman. Instead, he backpedals towards his man and offers zero resistence against the ballhandler.

Here, Dodd gives us a good example of a proper hedge. (He's the best PnR defender on Maryland, in my opinion). The problem comes when Dodd stays on the ballhandler a little too long and then fails to sprint back towards his man who has rolled down to the block. This is out of character for Dodd.

The guards also got caught under screens leading to unnecessary switches, putting the bigs in a tough position where they had to defend a quicker guard. Nickens is the main culprit here, and though Dodd doesn't get burned, it's still an open shot. I highly doubt Maryland intended to switch this PnR.

Stone knows the scheme, but his footwork lets him down in the next play. He does well to show beyond the arc, but he needs to hedge further so that the ballhandler moves side-to-side instead of downhill. Stone gets his hips twisted around with a misstep, failing to slow down the dribbler and allow Layman to catch up.

With two Maryland defenders chasing, this leaves Carter to box out two Vikings. The subsequent offensive rebound really originates with a slight miscue out by the 3-point line.

It's not all doom and gloom for the Terps' defense. Their intensity picked up nicely after halftime, and the results showed. Maryland scored the first eight points after the break and coasted from there. During that stretch, the Terps gave us a great example of how to properly execute their PnR defense.

Look at all the things done well in these 20 seconds. Stone gets tested twice, and his hedges are fantastic. Stone gets big as he sprints back to the roll man, deterring any entry passes with his long arms. Neither Layman or Sulaimon gets caught under the screen, and they are back to the ballhandler quickly. Carter is in correct help position, and then closes out on his man with great balance. He's ready to challenge a potential 3-pointer, and then he successfully thwarts a dribble drive. And finally, Carter gets a hand up to contest the jumper when it finally comes.

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