Crimson Tide rolls Terps; The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Playing their opening game in the Puerto Rico Tip-off, the University of Maryland was hammered today by #15 Alabama 62-42. The Terps were able to do little effectively, and had a remarkably poor shooting performance.

With 7 scholarship players, Maryland was simply no match for a talented Crimson Tide team. Maryland needs to quickly put this game behind them, and prepare for games tomorrow (they will face the loser of Wichita State and Colorado) and Sunday.

The Good:

1) Maryland was not able to take advantage of it, but I liked that they were able to pick up a couple of charge calls on JaMychal Green in the early minutes of the game. On the second one, Pankey did an excellent job of getting positioning.

2) Weijs did a good job cleaning up a miss from Parker, for the Terps first FG of the game. He also had the second MD basket.

3) Alabama would wind-up scoring anyways, but Parker quickly got down the court to pin a shot up against the backboard in transition. Parker would had a 2nd demonstrative block near the end of the 1st. In the 2nd half Parker was fouled, but was able to finish with an athletic move. He would get his 2nd FG by again aggressively going to the line.

4) Pankey had a nice follow-up on an Auslander miss. He would finish with 10 rebounds.

5) Mosley would break his 0 for 8 start to the game, with a 3 pointer to end the half. Mosley also had two good 2nd half blocks.

6) Maryland had just 9 turnovers.

7) Padgett had 9 points, and 5 boards. He had a couple of solid moves in the post.

The Bad:

1) The Terps fell behind quickly, trailing 8-1 at the under 16 minute timeout, 10-1 with 15 minutes remaining, and 17-5 at the 12 minute mark.

2) After two missed free-throws from Faust, Parker chucked-up an ugly 3. Faust has to convert at the line, and Parker needs to not settle for jumpers.

3) Coming out of a timeout, with MD down 20-7, Jonathan Thomas was in the game. Alabama gave him an open 3, and the walk-on threw-up an air-ball.

4) The Terps went to a zone defense at the 8 minute mark, I would have liked to have seen this happen earlier.

5) I liked that Mosley was looking for his shot, but obviously his 0 for 8 to start the game was not helping. The Senior has to be able to provide some regular offense for this team. He finished just 1 for 10.

6) Starting the 2nd half, Alabama missed their first four shots, but the Terps were not able to score and cut into the lead. Mosley would give Maryland their first point of the 2nd half, with a FT at the 16:15 mark. Prior to that, MD had missed 4 shots from the field, and their first three attempts at the line.

7) Outside of his two early baskets, Weijs often looked lost out on the court.

8) Like the rest of his teammates, Faust was a complete non-factor offensively, not  hitting his first FG until under 5 minutes left in the game. He also missed his 2 FT attempts.

The Ugly:

1) Maryland started 3 of 17 from the floor, and things only got worse. The Terps finished 13 for 57 (23%), including 2 for 14 from 3. The Terps were also just 14 of 25 from the line.

2) Alabama won on the boards 36-23.

3) Stoglin made 6 of his 7 FT attempts, but was 0 for 11 from the floor.