Iowa ends Terps season; The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

After jumping out to a 4-0 lead, Maryland quickly found themselves down 11-4 tonight vs. Iowa. The Terrapins would continue to trail most of the game against the Hawkeyes, being down as many as 14 in the 1st half, and 11 points with 6:57 left.

The Terps continued to battle, and had their opportunities to pull even closer, but could not break all the way through. With the 71-60 loss, Maryland ends their season with a 25-13 overall record.

The Good:

1) Maryland scored on their first trip, with Howard delivering a nice pass to Mitchell. Howard picked up a 2nd quick assist, as Faust scored on a layup. Down 8 (36-28), Howard came up with a steal.

2) With the game tied at 4, Len had a big block on Basabe. Len ended an 11-0 Iowa run with a jumper to make it 11-6 Hawkeyes. Len scored inside to make it 36-28 Iowa. Another block for Len with 1 minute left in the half. Len had 2 blocks early in the 2nd half, and 2 FT’s made it 40-35 Iowa with 18:30 left. Scoring through contact, Len made it 47-41 Iowa. Len started a fast-break with another block with 6 minutes left. With 4:30 left, he stuck with it, getting a board on his own miss, and got to the line. Scoring on the base line with 3 minutes left, MD pulled within 5. Len finished with 16 points, 9 boards, and 6 blocks.

3) Wells got through traffic, and pulled MD within 7 (15-8), scoring his first basket of the game. Wells forced a turnover on Basabe, with some tough defense in the post. Beautiful move from Wells from the top of the key, spinning across the lane, and laying it for a layup. Fouled on the play, he made his FT to make it 28-19 Iowa. Wells came up with a flush as the 1st half was ending, pulling MD within 5. Again showing his toughness, Wells scored again inside, while being fouled.

4) Splitting a double-team, Layman forced his way to the basket, and scored to make it 18-10 Iowa. Nice ball-fake and score for Layman with about 6 minutes left. Nice pass from Layman to Len with 2 minutes left. Layman had 7 boards, and 2 blocks.

5) Playing sick, Aronhalt hit a 3 to make it 22-13 Iowa. Another 3 brought MD within 10 at 34-24. Aronhalt added a third triple, with 1:30 left in the 1st half.

6) Down 13, Faust hit an open 3, to make it 26-16. Having a tough night, Faust buried another 3 to make it a 4 point game with about 12 minutes left. This was an important basket, with Wells on the bench in foul trouble. Despite the troubles Faust was having, I respect that he wanted the ball, and was looking to score. With MD down 56-45, Faust drove down the line, and scored while being fouled. His FT made it an 8 point game with 7 minutes left.

7) Mitchell had a strong tip-follow on a missed shot from Len. That made it 34-26 Iowa with 3 minutes left in the 1st half. Good pas from Mitchell to Wells to end the half.

8) For most of the first half, MD was being dominated. To go into the break down just 5 points, was a ‘win.’

The Bad:

1) Wells had an early turnover. Down 13-6, Wells tried to orchestrate a break and made a poor pass for another MD turnover. Wells picked up his 3rd foul in the opening minutes of the 2nd half. Wells added his 4th foul with 12:36 left. After a wild miss, Wells fouled out in frustration with 2:22 left.

2) Getting caught in the air, Layman turned it over. Right before the under 16 minute timeout, Layman had his 2nd turnover. Down 7 with 4 minutes left, Layman could not come up with  a pass.

3) After coming up with a block on Basabe the previous trip, Basabe threw it down hard on Len for a 9-4 Iowa lead.

4) Down 9-4, Mitchell turned it over. With MD trailing 11-4, Howard found Mitchell in the low post. Mitchell failed to score when he did not go up strong immediately. Another Mitchell turnover with 11:30 left. With 10 minutes left in the 2nd half, Mitchell was back on the bench; having not run the play Coach Turgeon had set up.

5) Coming off the bench, Cleare had an instant turnover with extra steps. At 33-21 Iowa, Cleare was called for an obvious foul, when he attempted to be a bit too physical.

6) With MD trailing 18-10, Faust was unable to finish his attempted layup. Trailing by 8 early in the 2nd half, Faust missed 2 FT’s. Several minutes later he missed the front-end of a 1&1. That was followed by making 1 of his next 2 attempts, and a missed layup. Down 6 with with 1:30 left, Faust elected not to pass to an open Aronhalt, and did not score. Faust finished 5 of 14, and just 2 of 6 from the line.

7) MD was trailing 24-13, when Howard missed an open 3. Trailing 32-19, Howard turned it over with a lazy pass. Another turnover from Howard in the opening minute of the 2nd half. Howard finished with 4 turnovers.

8) Iowa went to the half, leading by 5, despite shooting just 40% from the floor (MD was shooting 48%, on one less FG attempt). The difference was MD’s turnovers, and the foul-line. Iowa was 12 of 14 from the charity stripe in the first 20 minutes, while the Terps were just 0 for 1.

8a) After shooting 48% in the 1st half, MD shot just 40% overall for the game.

9) Maryland fell down by 12, when their in-bounds pass was picked off and dunked for a 47-35 Iowa lead.

10) After cutting the Iowa lead to 4 with 12 minutes left, Iowa extended the lead back to 11 over the next 4 minutes.

11) Maryland was just 9 of 16 from the foul line.

The Ugly:

1) After MD took a quick 4-0 lead. Iowa scored the next 11 points. The Terps had 6 turnovers in their first 11 possessions.

2) Maryland finished the 1st half with 11 turnovers.

Up-Next:

We know that the Maryland careers of Padgett, and Aronhalt have ended. It is anticipated by everyone that Len will enter the NBA Draft.

The core of a good team will return, and be augmented with the additions of Peters, Dodd, and Michigan transfer Evan Smotrycz. Expectations for Maryland next year will center on playing in that ‘other’ Tournament, but PG play is going to continue to be the issue to watch for the Terps.