The University of Maryland grabbed their first ACC win of the year, defeating Wake Forest 70-64. With the win, the Terps improved to 11-4, 1-1 overall. Maryland will host Georgia Tech Sunday.

The Good:

1) Below I list it as a ‘bad’ thing that Stoglin started the game on the bench, because of why that likely occurred. If there is a positive here, it is that Coach Turgeon is asking for the same (or greater) effort from the ACC’s leading scorer as he is from the rest of the roster. That energizes the entire team.

2) Mosley scored MD’s initial 6 points. He took a charge, with the Terps up 4 at 15-11. He finished the first half 4 of 6 from the field, with two 3’s. Mosley finished with 15 points, 4 boards, and 2 assists.

3) Weijs found Parker on a back-door cut, as the Sophomore F went to the basket.

4) Pankey was active on the boards. With MD up 14-11, Pankey had a nice block, which led to a Terps fast-break. Pankey finished with 9 points, 9 boards, 1 block, and 1 steal; providing strong play off the bench.

5) Upon entering the game, Stoglin found his shooting stroke, quickly burying a couple of 3’s. While he was just 6 of 18 from the floor (including 2 of 9 from 3 point land), Stoglin finished with 20 points.

6) MD went up 33-16, when Faust stole the ball and finished (while being fouled) on the other-end. He made a smart decision in not giving up the ball in that spot, as Len was not in a good position. Faust had 6 points, and 7 boards.

7) The Terps 16-3 scoring run in the 1st half, was primarily the result of good team defense.

8) Parker’s long arms were causing issues for Wake’s offense. Up 16 points in the 2nd half, Parker was on the ground battling for possession. Slashing to the basket, Parker had a nice dish off to Len. With great hustle, Parker made a block as the trailing defender with under 4 minutes to play.

9) As has been on display in the previous 4 games, Len is an outstanding interior passer. He also helped out on the defensive end, with 3 blocks.

10) MD went to the half up 40-24. This was probably the best 20 minutes the Terps have played this year.

11) On an in-bounds underneath the Wake basket, Padgett came flying down the lane and threw down a vicious two-handed dunk. MD was up 4 (58-54) when Padgett came down with an aggressive rebound, and was able to score with 2nd effort. Padgett had 11 points, and 8 boards. Padgett was 7 of 9 from the line.

12) The Terps won on the boards overall (40-35), doing a lot of their work on the offensive glass (18 boards).

13) Only 8 turnovers for the Terps tonight, with far less unforced errors then what we saw Sunday night.

The Bad:

1) Stoglin started the game on the bench, another indication that Coach Turgeon is not seeing enough defensive effort, and passing from the team’s best scorer.

2) Len was called for a travel, when he shuffled his feet. As Dan Bonner stated, he needed to turn and face the basket. His FT shooting has to improve. He has to have more than 3 shots, and 2 rebounds with that amount of time on the floor.

3) A 12-2 Wake run, over roughly 4 minutes, cut the MD lead to 8. The Demon Deacons pulled within 3 at the 9 minute mark. Wake deserves some credit for doing what they could to get back into the game, but they were helped by poor play from the Terps.

4) Mosley was very aggressive early on, finishing the first half with 11 points. With 9 minutes left in the 2nd half, he was still stuck on 11 for the game. It is not a coincidence that MD played well in the 1st half, and well down the stretch when Mosley was looking to score.

5) Maryland had 11 of their shots blocked.

6) The Terps were 24 of 37 from the FT line, with Len missing four of his attempts.

7) It felt as if Pankey could have been on the court more often in the 2nd half.

The Ugly:

None. The 2nd half was not particularly pretty, but the overall results were good enough for the Terps to earn their first conference win. Maryland was predicted by some to win only 3 or 4 conference games this  year. Tonight, the Terps played well enough to grab a 16 point half-time lead, and were also able to hold-up when Wake made their 2nd half charge.

Chris Stoner
Chris Stoner

Owner

Chris Stoner founded Baltimore Sports and Life in 2009. He has appeared as a radio guest with 1090 WBAL, 105.7 The Fan, CBS 1300, Q1370, WOYK 1350, WKAV 1400, and WNST 1570. He has also been interviewed by The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Business Journal, and PressBox (TV). As Owner, his responsibilities include serving as the Managing Editor, Publicist, & Sales Director.

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