Maryland Basketball: 2019-20 keys for Terrapins against Oakland

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA - MARCH 21: Anthony Cowan Jr. #1 of the Maryland Terrapins dribbles the ball against Kevin McClain #11 of the Belmont Bruins in the first half during the first round of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at VyStar Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena on March 21, 2019 in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) /

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LINCOLN, NE – FEBRUARY 6: Jalen Smith #25 of the Maryland Terrapins celebrates a three point basket against the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Pinnacle Bank Arena on February 6, 2019 in Lincoln, Nebraska. (Photo by Steven Branscombe/Getty Images) /

1. Starting Strong

Though they eventually cruised to easy victories in each of their first two games, the Terps started slow and took their time pulling away. Against Holy Cross, Maryland waited until about 10 minutes into the game before taking the lead for good, trading back and forth with Holy Cross to start the game. Rhode Island, in their game in College Park, lead for the majority of the first half and had the game tied early in the second half after Maryland managed a three-point lead at halftime.

It will be important for Maryland to take an early lead and to maintain it throughout the full 40 minutes of the game. Slow starts are easier to get away with earlier in the season when the competition can sometimes leave something to be desired. But, they won’t fly once the Big Ten conference games start and the Terps play multiple ranked teams at home and on the road. Getting out to a quick start against Oakland will be a good confidence boost for the Terps and a solid building block for the rest of the season.

An important part to a fast start will be shooting better from three. In their first game against Holy Cross, Maryland shot an embarrassingly low 18.5% (5/27) from three. Aaron Wiggins especially struggled going 0/6 on the game. The Terps improved their outside shot a little against Rhode Island, though that’s not saying much at all, shooting 31.6% (6/19). If the Terrapins are able to continue improving their three-point shooting percentage, they should be able to take over the game much more quickly. A team with a plethora of shooters, they are more than capable of doing so.

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