The Terps (7-4, 0-1) went down to Boston College (8-2, 1-0) Sunday, in a game that went down to the wire. Jordan Williams and Terrell Stoglin combined for 23 of the Terps' 41 first half points. Maryland played awful perimeter defense, and was lucky to take a 2 point lead into halftime. BC hit 6 threes in the first half, split evenly between Landon (MD) grad Danny Rubin and Biko Paris.
Throughout the 2nd half, the Terps had chances to pull away. However, whenever the Terps had a chance put the game away, it seemed that BC guard Corey Raji would hit a huge three to end the run. Despite these huge shots, the Terps still had a chance to win it at the end of the game. The Terps did not score the final 2:44, and missed their final three free throws en route to choking the game away.
It was especially disappointing that senior leader Cliff Tucker missed 2 of these free throws. With a chance to make it a two possession game, Tucker did not show up in crunch time. Senior leaders do not commit these types of errors, especially if they shoot 80% from the charity stripe. Tucker's play of late has been very disappointing considering his start. He seemed primed for a breakout year, but unfortunately he can't seem to find his game consistently.
Adrian Bowie played better than he has been with 7 assists and no turnovers. However, I no longer have the same expectations for Bowie as I had before the season. I now see him as a role player more than as a senior leader. While he will still be important in the locker room, the play of Terrell Stoglin leads me to believe Bowie will be seeing less minutes. Dino Gregory on the other hand is playing like a senior leader. He has continued to work on his rebounding, and he has a smooth jumper that he can rely on. Dino not only had 14 and 5, but he also continued to play stellar defense. By the end of the year, I believe Gregory will be the biggest leader on this team.
Sean Mosley continued his offensive struggles for the most part tonight. I did see that flex curl jumper one time, which is a start. But he still has a long way to go if he wants to become a complete player. He also turned the ball over 3 times. At his position, that is a ridiculously high amount. He hasn't been this careless with the ball earlier in his career, so I have no idea why he is suddenly turning into Mike Conley. Finally, Sean's defense has been lacking this season. In past years, he would guard the opponent's best offensive player, but now, he seems to be getting burned. If Sean can't find his game soon, this team could end up being much worse than I predicted this year.
As I already mentioned, Terrell Stoglin has been playing phenomenal basketball. He had 14, even thought he played awful in the 2nd half. As a freshman, I don't expect to play with the type of consistency that I expect from seniors, so I am very impressed with him. He needs to start in place of Bowie or Tucker next game. Gary has a reputation for sticking with upper classmen, but he needs to realize that putting Stoglin in the starting lineup will give this team the best chance to win.
Since his game winner against College of Charleston, Pe'Shon Howard has been pretty quiet in the box score. He played 19 minutes tonight adding 3 assists. I don't know whats going on with Howard, but I'm guessing he simply isn't playing as well now. As I said about Stoglin, I don't expect him to come out and be a big contributer every night.
James Padgett only played 4 minutes tonight, which puzzles me. Gary has clearly been making an effort to give Padgett some minutes, but he only played 4 minutes against BC. Hopefully Padgett will be back to getting his usual minutes next week.
As usual, Jordan Williams was outstanding. Williams had 27 points and 13 rebounds in a dominant performance. With most of the team playing awful basketball, at least Jordan is a bright spot.
I honestly thought the team played horrible. They gave up 16 threes to a BC team with no inside threat. I don't know how a one-dimensional team such as BC can be given so many wide open looks. This is a function of two things. The first is just a lack of effort- pure and simple. The team just needs to play better defense. Second, I thought Gary Williams stuck with the press for too long. BC seemed to be breaking the press relatively easily, which lead to wide open looks from three. Gary rarely makes mistakes as a game day coach, but I thought he made a mistake here. The Terps should not be losing to a team who shoots 29 (of 58 total) threes in a game.
The Terps were actually pretty solid from the free throw line today for the first 38:13 minutes. They were 8 for 11 (73%), with Williams at 3 for 4. Unfortunately, there are 40 minutes in a basketball game. The Terps went 0 for 3 from the line in the last 1:47. Cliff Tucker had a chance to grab a 77-73 lead with two made free throws, but he bricked both of them. Terrell Stoglin added another huge miss in a tie game. This isn't rocket science. Make your free throws, and you will become a better team.
Maryland was very good tonight taking care of the ball. I could tell Gary has been working on this in practice because they only turned the ball over 9 times. This team will take huge strides if they can continue to take care of the ball.
The Terps will head home for a week before taking on New Jersey Institute of Technology on December 22. Hopefully, the team will get through 3 more cupcakes without an embarrassing loss before the predominant ACC schedule begins.
Scoring Breakdown
Williams 27, Stoglin 14, Gregory 14, Mosley 7, Tucker 6, Bowie 4, Palsson 3
Minute Breakdown
Williams 38, Gregory 31, Stoglin 28, Tucker 26, Bowie 26, Mosley 22, Howard 19, Palsson 5, Padgett 4, Weijs 1
