Maryland men’s basketball relied on a big second-half on Tuesday in 89-63 victory over Wagner.
The Terps struggled in the first half, but found a groove to bounce back after back-to-back crushing losses.
Here are three takeaways from Maryland’s 26-point win.
The Terps struggled to shoot early.
Maryland struggled to shoot early on against Wagner. The Terps struggled with every type of shot, they were completely out of sorts.
“Thought the predictability of our shots was much better,” head coach Buzz Williams said. “I understand from a percentage standpoint, if you look at the numbers, 20 offensive rebounds is good. The best part is, is that we only turn the ball over 6% of the time, so at least we got shot up.”
The Terps missed 11 layups in the first half on Tuesday, but finished 14-of-30 (46.7%) from inside. Maryland wasn’t much better from beyond the arc, shooting 5-of-20.
Pharrel Payne was the primary source of offense, scoring a career-high 30 points on 8-of-11 shooting. The rest of the Terps were essentially cold throughout the first half.
The Terps course-corrected towards the end of the first half, finishing 10-of-33. But the Terps struggled to make baskets, regardless of the type of shot.
Maryland succeeded at getting to the free-throw line at will, but consistently missed free throws. The Terps were 32-of-45 (71.1%) from the charity stripe. Payne missed six free throws in total on Tuesday, despite his monster performance.
“It was our lowest free throw percentage, I think, of the season, and our highest free throw attempt rate of the season,” Williams said.
Through most of the early going of the season, Maryland’s biggest issue was turnovers and not grabbing rebounds. That wasn’t the case against Wagner, the Terps simply couldn’t make shots and Wagner stayed competitive because of it.
The Terps corrected their shooting woes in the second half, shooting 16-of-31 (51.6%) from the field.
“I didn’t think that we finished that the rim very well. I thought we got to the rim in the first half. It was way worse than it was the second half,” Williams said. “But we do need to finish at the rim at a higher rate. But I thought their predictability, no matter the shot was there.”
The entire game was sloppy
Tuesday was a sloppy game on both sides.
There were consistently some unorthodox scrums with the ball on the ground and both teams diving for it. There were a lot of fouls due to pure sloppiness and it caused neither team to find a groove.
As previously mentioned, Maryland cleaned up the turnovers, only having eight. But it was a lack of consistent ball movement and forcing bad looks. The Terps were not getting completely set and due to it. Maryland had 12 assists in the game, but only three in the first half.
“I told our guys that on Sunday when we got together. Hey guys, this morning, we’re only going to talk about defense. We’re going to walk through some of the changes we’re going to make,” Williams said.”Then everybody go home, and then come back this evening, and we’re going to talk about offense and all the changes that we’re going to make.”
In the first half, the Terps were in transition and the ball was passed to Andre Mills, but he wasn’t looking and the ball sailed out of bounds. In a way, that was how the entire game was — nothing came easy.
Wagner was arguably more sloppy. The Seahawks had 18 turnovers and had a greater degree of bad plays and uncoordinated offense. To some degree, it was Maryland’s defense that caused these mistakes and it protected the rim well with four blocks.
“Little bit more physicality me at the forefront three straight line drives,” Solomon Washington said. “That’s not who I am,I sell my hat on the defensive side.”
The Terps pulled away in the second half, but it wasn’t pretty. After back-to-back 30 or more point losses, it was important for Maryland to get back into the win column.
Solomon Washington’s effect
Washington made his Maryland debut on Tuesday after missing the first eight games with an ankle injury.
“I feel like this is our first time actually having 10 guys on the court at practice since training camp, way before the season,” Washington said. “So it’s great, we can do a lot of good on good.”
Due to Washington’s debut, the Terps made a significant change to their starting lineup. Washington started on Tuesday, alongside Myles Rice — who made his first start of the season.
Tuesday’s lineup was Maryland’s first time at full strength and it showed in the differences in Williams’ lineup combinations. The Terps utilized a deeper bench and a significantly more balanced lineup.
“The first thing I would say is, I’m glad that he thought the same thing I would say is I’m glad he’s back and didn’t get hurt while he was playing,” Williams said. “It was seven weeks ago when he got hurt. His first day of practice was Sunday. Yesterday was the second day. Physically, he helps us defensively.”
Washington had 10 points, six rebounds, one steal and one block. But his presence on the court was notable, adding energy and hustle to the lineup. He rejuvenated a struggling roster into its largest win of the season.
His offensive momentum appeared later on. Washington slammed home two impressive lob passes and showed a glimpse of what his role could be moving forward.
“Felt really great. Just excited to be here. Glad to be a Terp,” Washington said.
