Penn State vs. Maryland: College basketball game preview, TV schedule
The Maryland Terrapins are literally limping into the new year, with a pair of key injuries to their rotation. Will Penn State take advantage and win this game?
TV schedule: Tuesday, Jan. 2 7:00 p.m. ET. Big Ten Network
Arena: XFINITY Center in College Park, Maryland
It’s been a tough week for Mark Turgeon and Maryland 12-3 (1-1). First came the devastating news that sophomore forward Justin Jackson, who’s averaged 9.8 ppg and a team-leading 8.1 rpg, will be out for the season with a torn labrum.
Just a few days later, Ivan Bender, another frontcourt player who started some games this season, is also done for the year with a knee injury. That puts a lot of pressure on the remaining bigs, especially freshman Bruno Fernando, who averages 10.1 ppg and 6.1 rpg. This will be the first game for the Terrapins without either player, so it’ll be interesting as to see how Turgeon’s rotations look.
It’s also going to be fascinating to see how Pat Chambers, the coach of Penn State 11-4 (1-1) uses this to his advantage. He has a couple of frontcourt players at his disposal in sophomores Lamar Stephens and Mike Watkins, who each average over 12 ppg and seven rpg.
Watkins is a throwback big, operating mainly in the post and is an elite defender, averaging 3.5 bpg. But the key player for Maryland to watch out for is Tony Carr, who leads the team in scoring at 18.9 ppg while shooting 53% from long distance. His counterpart on the Terrapins side is Anthony Cowan, who’s his teams respective top scorer at 15.5 ppg.
As talented as the Nittany Lions are, their youth and inexperience shows at times, including a bad loss to Rider a couple of games ago. The key players for Maryland are underclassmen as well, so this will be one of many battles between these core players.
Next: Where does Maryland stand after losing key players?
Penn State’s schedule sets up pretty nicely in the month of January, with every game winnable with the exception of Michigan State at the end. After the top two teams, there’s a number of programs vying for the next couple of spots, including these two teams. It’s going to take some time for Maryland to figure things out after the injuries, so I like Penn State to sneak this one out on the road.
Prediction: Maryland 70 – Penn State 72