Before I get an angry email from a Spartans fan, if they have them, or a parent of a player, I say "cupcake" lovingly. Let's face it: in a vacuum, UNC Greensboro just plain isn't very good. And compared to what Maryland faced over the past week, they're a high school team.
Nestled in between a game against Temple and the start of ACC play, UNC-G will give Maryland a nice, cupcake-y break when they travel to the Comcast Center tomorrow at 7:30. And considering that Maryland could use an easy win, the timing couldn't be better.
Last year, UNC-Greensboro represented a below-average opponent with a few decent senior leaders and an opportunity for Maryland to get some time in the Greensboro Coliseum, the same site as the ACC Tournament. The Terrapins won that game by 34. Scarily enough, this game will be at home for the Terrapins and, if it was possible, UNC-G has gotten even worse.
Last year this time, UNC-G had two victories, as unimposing as they were. This year, the Spartans are winless. A few of the teams they've lost to: East Carolina (by 28), North Carolina A&T (by 12), Wofford (by 22), and Furman (by 13). The average margin of defeat is 18. They've scored more than 73 only one time. They've never given up fewer than 81. And there's very, very little this team does that could challenge Maryland.
For all of those reasons, I'm not going to spend a lot of time breaking down what they do. They're a very up-tempo team, playing every bit as fast as Maryland. If they continue to play at a high tempo against the Terps and don't improve on a defensive efficiency that's eighth-worst in the country, Maryland will probably find triple-digits.
After losing the biggest piece - senior forward Ben Stywall - of what was already a very average team, they're in a major rebuilding mode in almost every aspect of the game. In addition to the aforementioned defensive troubles, they've posted an offensive efficiency good for 275th in the nation and a turnover % nearly as bad as the defensive efficiency.
If there's any name to know and any player that could seriously cause trouble, it's Aloysius Henry. As the Spartan's only real inside presence and standing at a legitimate 6-10, Henry's going to be the guy on Jordan Williams for the majority of the game. Despite playing only 20 minutes or so a game, he's leading the Spartans in scoring and rebounding. Now, that may be only 12 and 6 a game, but for a new starter, that's still pretty impressive.
Past that, there's not a ton going on for the Spartans. They're good three-point shooters, as they're draining 35% as a team from deep. Leading the way there are three guards: senior Bradon Evans (53%) and sophomores Korey VanDussen (44%) and Kyle Randall (41%). Keep in mind that none of them put up too many threes - the highest attempts among them is 18, which is well below Cliff Tucker's 27 or Terrell Stoglin's 23 - but if they get hot, they could get annoying.
Everywhere else? It's safe to say that it's probably a weakness. You're looking at a team ranked in the bottom couple dozen in the country in nearly every category outside of 3pt% and offensive rebounding % (which is offset by their terrible defensive rebounding %). Maryland is better in nearly every single category, more often than not by a pretty large margin.
Maybe that's why it's not a big surprise that KenPom has Maryland winning by 34 again. Really, I wouldn't be surprised if the Terps even outscored that margin.