We’ve reached the middle of Maryland basketball’s five-game stretch against lower-tier opposition. After beating Ohio by 25 and Gardner-Webb by 22, the Terps are set to take on Division-III Catholic at home Tuesday.
It’s yet another tune-up game for Maryland.
The Terps had a reasonably difficult stretch surrounding the start of the month, dropping three of four contests in the span of seven days. They’ve had plenty of time to decompress from those games and the super-bonkers overtime win at Illinois. This stretch will continue right after finals week and include one more game before conference play resumes in January.
It’s hard to say how well trends from these games will carry over into Big Ten matchups, but one positive from this stretch is that injuries are much easier to overcome. Bruno Fernando sprained his ankle against Ohio, missed the Gardner-Webb game and likely won’t be back for this one. Justin Jackson sat Saturday out with an illness. Without its two leading rebounders, Maryland still beat the Runnin’ Bulldogs by 22.
Both Darryl Morsell and Joshua Tomaic had career outings against Gardner-Webb. The former notched 18 points on just eight shots, while the latter saw extended minutes for the first time in a Maryland uniform and put up nine points and six rebounds. It’ll be interesting to see if any other bench players enjoy a breakthrough of sorts, or if Mark Turgeon runs out a previously unseen lineup combination. The turnovers will be worth monitoring as well; Maryland had just 11 in its last game after committing 25 and 18 in the previous two.
The 2-4 Division III team will probably be overmatched.
On Catholic’s schedule, this game is sandwiched right between the Stevens Institute for Technology (who beat the Cardinals, 76-70) and Gallaudet University (a school for the deaf and hard of hearing). Maryland has more than three times as many undergraduates as these three schools combined.
Senior forward Jay Howard is the Cardinals’ ace, averaging 24.7 points per game on 58 percent shooting from the field (taking only two three-pointers and 104 two-pointers helps explain that). He’s also bringing down 7.3 rebounds per game, but this seems like the space to note that Howard stands 6’4, the same height as Maryland combo guard Darryl Morsell.
Catholic and Maryland have a lengthier history than one would think. The programs have met 22 times, including in Maryland’s inaugural season of 1910-11. The Terps lead the all-time series 12-10, and are all but guaranteed to add another win Tuesday night.
The numbers
Maryland: 9-3
Catholic: 2-4 (DIII)
All-time series: Maryland leads 12-10 (last meeting in 1978)
How to watch and listen
Tuesday, Dec. 12, 7 p.m. ET, Xfinity Center, College Park
Streaming: BTN Plus
Radio: 105.7 FM (Balt.) / 980 AM (DC), Sirus 81 / XM 81, TuneIn Radio App (Johnny Holliday, Chris Knoche, Walt Williams); WMUC Sports (Joe Malfa, Megan Smedley)