Five Takeaways From The Terps’ 73-55 Win Against Rhode Island

After a first half filled with groans and jeers at Xfinity Center, the Maryland men’s basketball team gave the home crowd plenty to cheer about down the stretch, pulling away for a 73-55 victory against Rhode Island Nov. 9.

The Terps struggled with turnovers out of the gate and faced an early 24-12 deficit, but crept back into the contest, pulling ahead late in the first half and taking a 35-32 advantage into the locker room. They didn’t let the Rams scare them in the second half, stretching their lead to 21 in the final minutes.

Jalen Smith led all scorers for the second straight game, using a late burst to finish with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Aaron Wiggins recorded his first career double-double with 13 points and 13 boards. Anthony Cowan Jr. scored all 14 of his points after halftime, while Eric Ayala chipped in 13. In a fast-paced game, Maryland shot 44.6 percent from the floor and held Rhode Island to 29.9 percent.

Here’s what stood out from the late-night victory:

1. Maryland went as its ball control went.

After 12 minutes of gameplay, Maryland had 12 turnovers. They came in all shapes and sizes — lost balls on dribble drives, errant passes, offensive fouls and a bevy of Darryl Morsell travels. In a related story, the Terps trailed 24-12 after those 12 minutes.

“We were really just out of sync,” head coach Mark Turgeon said after the game. “Give them credit. Their ball-screen defense was terrific. They pressured us. We just got used to it as the game went on.”

In the ensuing 28 minutes, Maryland committed just four giveaways. The Terps had two the rest of the half and roared into the lead. They had three in the second half and outscored the Rams by 15. Thanks to aggressive play on the defensive end, the Terps forced 18 turnovers and won the category by one.

2. Switching to a zone paid off.

With Rhode Island’s shifty guards giving Maryland fits throughout the first half, Turgeon gave the Rams a different look and it paid off. The Terps deployed a 1-3-1 zone with Wiggins at the top, and the sophomore quickly answered with a steal and fast-break layup. Those transition buckets helped turn the tide after Maryland’s poor start.

“Coach put it in because he loves our length and he loves our athleticism,” Wiggins said. “Putting that [1-3-1] in, we saw that it kind of messed with them a little bit, so I used my length and I just tried to affect the guards who were handling the ball up top.”

3. The Terps fared a little better from long range.

In the season opener against Holy Cross, the Terps connected on just 5 of 27 shots from 3-point range. They hit five of their 10 attempts in the first half of this contest, which helped propel them to a halftime lead. Four different players contributed from deep, with Wiggins knocking down two and Ricky Lindo Jr. nailing the first triple of his career.

The second half wasn’t quite as strong, as Maryland went 1-for-9 to finish 6-of-19 (31.5 percent). It’s still below the average from last season (34.9 percent), but it’s once again worth noting that last year’s Terps were 7-of-42 from deep through two contests. Maryland also did well enough defensively to make this category a wash, as Rhode Island went 7-of-23 (30.4 percent) from three.

4. Foul trouble stymied the freshmen.

Center Makhi Mitchell earned his first career start, but was forced off the court with two personal fouls just 2:41 into the game. In the second half, he entered at the 15:15 mark, picked up two more fouls and was out of the game for good with 13:49 remaining. Mitchell recorded two points and no rebounds in four minutes.

Forward Donta Scott had similar struggles in the opening half, committing three fouls in eight minutes. He didn’t pick up another in the second half, but also didn’t add to his five points. Makhel Mitchell had three fouls of his own in five minutes of action. After an impressive collective debut against Holy Cross, the speed of this game got the better of Maryland’s freshmen.

“I think it’s just a matter of growth,” Wiggins said. “They’re young freshmen, and coming in, think it’s just a matter of having lessons. They’ll learn from this — I’m sure next game, they’ll be a lot better with fouls. They’ll be fine.”

5. The veterans found their groove in the second half.

Cowan entered the break scoreless on 0-for-4 shooting, but once he broke the seal in the second half, the points piled up. He had seven points two minutes later and finished the night with 14, all after halftime. Cowan finished the second half 4-of-8 from the floor and 5-of-6 from the foul line.

Morsell had an even worse first half. He scored just two points, which came late, and committed five turnovers, three of which were traveling calls. The junior didn’t pile up numbers in the second half, but he provided a steady presence on both ends of the floor during a team-high 17 minutes.

Smith, meanwhile, had seven points with six minutes remaining. But then he caught fire, scoring all 10 of the Terps’ points in the next three minutes and outscoring Rhode Island 10-2 by himself in that span. His slam dunk with 2:44 remaining gave Maryland its first 20-point lead of the night. It also gave him 17 points, and he’d finish with a game-high 19 after being quiet most of the night.

Maryland was shaky early, but had enough to stay in the game even with all these individual slow starts. And the Terps showed down the stretch that when everyone’s clicking, they’re impossible to slow down.

Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox

Thomas Kendziora

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