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Maryland basketball is 4-0 after beating Hofstra on Friday night. Less than 48 hours later, the Terps are back in action at the Xfinity Center as they host Mount St. Mary’s.
Friday’s contest featured several of the same positives and negatives as the games that preceded it. Bruno Fernando was dominant when on the floor, but the sophomore big man battled foul trouble and Maryland wasn’t the same team without him. The Terps’ top six all scored in double figures, but the reserves combined for just two points and one second-half minute.
Maryland’s early-season schedule has been low on difficulty, with Hofstra the best of the bunch at No. 144 in KenPom. The Pride made Friday’s game interesting, leading for most of the first half and taking a 37-31 advantage into halftime. But Sunday’s game shouldn’t be nearly as dramatic.
Mount St. Mary’s is 0-3 and hasn’t sniffed a win.
The Mountaineers’ first three games have all been on the road, and each result has been ugly. They lost the opener to NC State by a 105-55 final on Nov. 6, then fell 79-61 to Hofstra on Nov. 9 before losing 98-75 to Marshall on Wednesday. Mount St. Mary’s is 331st out of 353 teams on KenPom.
Maryland will still have to watch out for sophomore guard Jalen Gibbs, though. He’s averaging 20.7 points per game and scored 24 of the Mountaineers’ 55 in the opener. It’s been a breakout start for Gibbs, who transferred in after averaging 3.3 points per game at Drake last season. The 6’3 guard is 7-of-13 from three-point range this season, including a perfect 3-of-3 Wednesday against Marshall.
Mount St. Mary’s has been statistically underwhelming across the board. The Mountaineers are shooting 41.5 percent from the field, 33.3 percent from deep and just 51.3 percent at the foul line. They’ve lost the rebounding battle by an average of nine boards. They’ve committed 17.7 turnovers per game and forced just 8.3. The schedule softens up next week, but it’d be alarming to Maryland if that first win came in College Park.
The numbers
Maryland: 4-0
Mount St. Mary’s: 0-3
All-time series: Maryland leads 8-0
Odds: Maryland is favored by 25.5 points
How to watch and listen
Sunday, Nov. 18, 4 p.m. (ET), Xfinity Center, College Park
TV: Big Ten Network — Dave O’Brien (Play-by-Play), Andy Katz (Analyst)
Streaming: BTN2Go
Radio: 105.7 FM (Balt), 980AM (DC), SiriusXM 964, TuneIn Radio App (Johnny Holliday, Chris Knoche, Walt Williams); WMUC Sports
Join the conversation!
This post will serve as our GameThread for today’s contest. Feel free to chime in with observations, commentary and more as the game goes on. (We obviously won’t continue to combine all of these elements of our coverage into one post, but the short turnaround and a busy Maryland sports weekend made it the best option here.) Be respectful, and enjoy watching the Terps on actual TV this time.