Maryland men\u2019s basketball\u2019s only Big Ten win of the season came against Penn State \u2014 a team that currently sits at 10-14. Minnesota also sits below .500, but it was riding the high of one of its most electric wins in recent program history: a 76-73 victory over No. 10 Michigan State.<\/p>\n
But the Terps didn\u2019t let that high last long, capturing their second Big Ten win of the campaign, 67-62.<\/p>\n
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Here are three takeaways from Sunday\u2019s action.<\/p>\n
Some high-level shotmaking<\/p>\n
Where to start? In the first half, Minnesota went 8-of-16 from 3-point range. Sophomore guard Isaac Asuma, who entered the match shooting 29.5% from deep, netted his first four attempts from beyond the arc.<\/p>\n
It should be noted that not all of his attempts were clean pick-and-pops, either. A few were off-balance, heavily contested isolation buckets \u2014 and a couple came at opportune moments when the Gophers were down early.<\/p>\n
Minnesota\u2019s typically slow-developing offense worked in its favor. The Gophers consistently used off-ball screens to their advantage, freeing their guards and wings at the top of the key for open shots. Minnesota\u2019s patience on its sets opened up sudden change-of-pace cutting and driving opportunities, catching Maryland\u2019s defense flat-footed and out of rotation.<\/p>\n
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The first half arguably served as Maryland\u2019s best of the season thus far \u2014 and it still found itself down at the break.<\/p>\n
Andre Mills has been on a tear recently. He appointed himself as the team\u2019s aggressor early, spinning and knifing his way through the teeth of the defense for some acrobatic layups. He also knocked down a three on the afternoon.<\/p>\n
For much of the Big Ten slate, Maryland has lulled itself into stagnant, lifeless possessions. It has far too often relied on isolation scoring and last-ditch heaves. What made Sunday\u2019s contest so refreshing was the Terps\u2019 skilled individual scoring efforts working in tandem with stellar ball movement.<\/p>\n
Solomon Washington and Diggy Coit hit fadeaways, stepbacks, pull-up midranges and and-ones galore, but the simple pick-and-rolls and cuts to the hoop were what kept the offense flowing, exciting and in a close contest.<\/p>\n
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Maryland\u2019s defense made Minnesota\u2019s offense look good<\/p>\n
Yes, Minnesota executed a well-oiled offensive gameplan. But for as good as the Terps\u2019 offense looked Sunday, it also had some shortcomings on the other end.<\/p>\n
The Gophers ended with 14 3-point makes, good for their second-highest output of the season. The Terps don\u2019t allow that if they play better defense; they simply failed to combat Minnesota\u2019s bread-and-butter from the perimeter.<\/p>\n
It was effectively two players decimating Maryland early Sunday \u2014 Asuma and Bobby Durkin. Neither they nor the rest of the Gophers center their offense around paint buckets. Yet, Maryland often shaded a second defender on the weak side near the restricted area for a trap. With Minnesota\u2019s rapid perimeter skip passing, open shooters had free rein to let loose. The Gophers ended the game with 33 3-point attempts.<\/p>\n
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Minnesota\u2019s rebounding ability did pose a threat \u2014 it pulled down nine offensive boards. But it didn\u2019t make its money near the hoop all game, racking up a mere 10 paint points on the afternoon. That begged the question as to the necessity and effectiveness of head coach Buzz Williams\u2019 defensive plan \u2014 at least for much of the match.<\/p>\n
The Terps also didn\u2019t take advantage of Minnesota\u2019s poor free throw shooting, sending the Gophers to the line for just 14 attempts.<\/p>\n
Big Ten crunch time victory<\/p>\n
All the strategies and plans that had transpired over the course of Sunday\u2019s contest sort of went out the window in the final minutes. It was new territory for Maryland, too, who had yet to play in a close conference ending.<\/p>\n
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First, Maryland\u2019s help defense in the paint ultimately paid dividends. With just over 1:30 remaining, Langston Reynolds found himself hounded in the restricted area. Multiple players were open on the arc, but the Terps\u2019 hands and activity deflected the pass.<\/p>\n
The turnover gave Coit the ball in transition. On the previous possession, he had pounded the ball into the hardwood before taking a deep 3-pointer that missed its mark. It was a desertion of the Terps\u2019 ball movement and pace that had been working so well all game.<\/p>\n
Coit didn\u2019t make the same mistake twice, bull-rushing the hoop before Minnesota\u2019s defender could get situated. The game was tied, but Coit\u2019s heroics didn\u2019t stop there.<\/p>\n
Forget the pick-and-rolls, nifty sets and cuts. Sometimes, the best player simply needs to win the game for a team, and that\u2019s the case at every level of play. It\u2019s why isolation scoring and shot creation matters so much to NBA scouts and coaches alike.<\/p>\n
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Once again, Coit proved to the Terps\u2019 faithful why he\u2019s the embodiment of that trait for his team. He sank a James Harden-like stepback \u2014 one Maryland fans have grown accustomed to over the season \u2014 to deliver the conference win in the final minute.<\/p>\n
There had previously been question marks surrounding the Terps\u2019 late-game execution and go-to scorer down the stretch, namely against Oregon and USC. Coit has been inconsistent at times. But he\u2019s also been the Terp that has delivered most in crunch time this season, and he deserves his flowers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Maryland men\u2019s basketball\u2019s only Big Ten win of the season came against Penn State \u2014 a team that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":591423,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3723],"tags":[79320,7,217,74894,19763,19762,4717,307,13649,231,772,1544],"class_list":["post-591422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-basketball","tag-andre-mills","tag-basketball","tag-college-basketball","tag-diggy-coit","tag-isaac-asuma","tag-langston-reynolds","tag-maryland-terrapins","tag-minnesota","tag-minnesota-golden-gophers","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-ncaab"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116037531145929118","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=591422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591422\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/591423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=591422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=591422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=591422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}