Terps over Seminoles; What did we see?

The University of Maryland beat Florida State 83-71 at home, to improve to 14-10 overall and 6-5 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. This ended a 4 game Terrapins losing streak against the Seminoles, and gave Coach Turgeon his first win vs. FSU.

It will be a quick turn-around for the Terps, as they head to Charlottesville Monday night to face the Cavaliers.

(You can discuss this on the BSL Board here.)

What did we see?

1) The Terrapins 1st half, was their most impressive stretch of play this season.  The 2nd half was less spectacular; but after initially extending their lead further, the Terps were able to hold off a would-be comeback attempt from the Seminoles.

1a) Maryland made 62% of their 1st half attempts (16 of 26 overall, 6 of 14 from 3). With this scorching pace, the Terps raced out to a 17 point lead (46-29) at the break.

1b) For the game, the Terps shot 52%, including 42% (10 of 24) from 3.

2) Allen led the way for MD. In the 1st half, Allen hit 7 of his 9 attempts, including 4 of 6 from 3. He also added two 1st half steals. For the game, Allen finished with a career high 32 points. He also 4 boards, 2 assists, and 2 steals. Allen was 11 of 15 from the floor, including 7 of 10 from 3. Wonderful game for the Sophomore.

3) Getting the start today, Mitchell responded with 6 points (3 of 3 from the floor), and 3 boards in the 1st half. Mitchell finished with 8 points (4 of 5 from the floor), and 5 boards.

4) Maryland even got to the line, and converted once there in the 1st half. (Terps were 8 of 10 in the 1st half.) For the game, MD was 19 of 23 (83%). A great showing from the Terps here.

5) Layman had 10 points in the 1st half, scoring from the outside twice in the last minute plus. Layman would finish with 12 points, 5 boards, 1 assist, and 2 blocks. His best play of the game came with under a minute left, with his hustle dive to the floor; seeking possession for the Terps.

6) Wells had a quiet 1st half scoring wise (2 points, 2 attempts), but added 5 assists and 2 blocks. Wells would finish with 15 points, and 6 assists. When FSU was attempting to comeback late, the ball found Wells hands more often.

7) With MD shooting as well as they did in the 1st half, there were limited opportunities for offensive boards. Due to that, FSU had a 19-12 rebounding edge after the first 20 minutes. For the game, the Seminoles won on the glass 38-31.

8) The Terps were consistently looking to create offense from defense, and push the ball in transition. Great to see.

9) Besides the excellent shooting, another reason the offense was so productive in the 1st half was that MD had just 4 turnovers. For the game, MD finished with 13. There were moments of sloppy play in the 2nd half, perhaps partially related to MD easing up a bit with the extended lead.

10) There were a couple of beautiful oops from MD today – one from Wells to Faust, and another from Allen to Wells.

11) Minutes were limited today for Smotrycz, and I think that improved MD’s defense.

12) Cleare and Graham combined for 10 boards off the bench.

13) Faust was 1 of 6 from the floor (including 0 of 4 from 3), but had 6 points, 3 boards, and 3 assists.