COLLEGE PARK, MD — Selton Miguel collected the rebound and sprinted down the middle of the court with fellow transfers Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Rodney Rice on either side. Miguel drove toward the front of the hoop as Alcorn State’s two defenders converged and instead of forcing a shot Miguel dished to Gillespie on his right.
The junior point guard took one dribble and passed to Rice awaiting the pass near the left baseline. Rice looked toward the basket but — with a defender in his way — he spun his back to the defender and shovel passed the ball out to Miguel on the left wing. Miguel buried the three-point shot, giving Maryland an 18-point lead late in the first half.
The Terps’ (7-1) finished the first half on a 28-11 scoring run defeating the Alcorn State Braves (0-9), 96-58, Sunday afternoon.
“I feel like we came out a little flat today, like during the beginning of the game or whatever, but, you know, coach challenged us and we just kind of woke up in the second half and took care of business well,” senior forward Julian Reese said.
Maryland dominated both ends of the court through most of the first half.
The Terps only allowed the Braves one large scoring run — 11-5 — and they immediately responded, retaking the lead a couple minutes after the run. Maryland’s defense finished the half holding Alcorn State under 40 percent from the floor in addition to blocking four shots and forcing five turnovers.
Maryland’s offense benefited from the strong defense quickly changing possession and running the fastbreak. The Terps outscored the Braves by eight in fastbreak points and finished the first half shooting better than 55 percent from the floor.
Maryland carried its strong play over to the second half, coasting to a carefree win.
The Terps outperformed the Braves in every statistical category on both ends of the court through the second half.
Maryland finished the game with 96 points on 32 of 56 from the floor and won the assist battle 25 to eight. Five Terps ended the game in double figures — the third time that’s happened this season.
“It helps when you have guys making shots,” said head coach Kevin Willard. “I mean we shot almost 50 percent from three, so your ball movement looks a lot better when you’re popping the ball and you have guys make shots.”
Julian Reese was one of the five to score in double figures tied for second on the team with 14 to go along with his 11 rebounds. Reese’s statline earned him his third double-double of the season.
Maryland’s defensive pressure never let up and it showed as Alcorn only mustered up 27 points in the second half.
The Terps forced the Braves to turn the ball over 14 times in the game, reengineering those turnovers into 18 points. Maryland finished with 11 blocks as well and six of them came from Tafara Gapare in his 23 minutes off the bench.
“I keep telling people that’s what we see everyday,” said Willard. “I got to somehow get him to turn his motor on right away when he first goes in because that’s what he’s capable of doing all the time.”
Alcorn State ended the game shooting under 32 percent from the floor and 25 percent from three-point range.
Maryland’s victory continues its streak of excellence against unranked non-conference opponents at home. With the win, Maryland has won 21 consecutive matchups against those opponents at the Xfinity Center.
The Terps have three more non-conference games left on their schedule — two of which are at home versus unranked opponents. The only opponent of the three ranked above 300 in KenPom rankings is Syracuse whom they play on December 21, in the Gotham Classic.
Maryland will have a couple Big Ten tests before that with back-to-back conference matchups between Ohio State and No. 13 Purdue starting with Wednesday’s game against the Buckeyes.
“I feel like we can match up with anybody,” said sophomore guard DeShawn Harris-Smith. “Whatever the other team can do we could do it just as well, if not better.”
Oliver Schaack and Nathan Schwartz will be on the call for Wednesday’s game on WMUCSports radio.
