Maryland Basketball: Biggest takeaways win over Old Dominion
By Sean Cole
Maryland Basketball was able to take care of business, beating Old Dominion to start out the season.
After months of anticipation and counting the days, as well as praying for some basketball. Terp fans, today we finally have basketball!. Maryland started off their 2020 season at home against CUSA opponent ODU. We would finally get a taste of what life would be like without superstars Anthony Cowan and Jalen Smith.
Because of the pandemic, there were no fans in the stands, which I’m sure was very different for the players and coaches. There also were no exhibition games this year, so this for intensive purposes was a tune-up game against the Monarchs, who traditionally a tough club.
The Terp’s started off a little slow as they looked to be getting their feet under them, as did ODU, but at the 5:42 mark that is when the Terp’s kicked into gear and went on a 13-0 run and never looked back as they lead the rest of the way by double digits in an 85-67 victory. The win was the 44th consecutive home opener victory and gave us some interesting takeaways.
One of the biggest questions for the Terp’s heading into this year is could the Terp’s survive without their floor leader Anthony Cowan?. That question was somewhat answered, as Eric Ayala went 6/6 from the floor and scored 19 points in leading the Terps in scoring.
Ayala looked very comfortable at the point, as he made some great decisions throughout the game and stayed in total control. The important takeaway in regards to Ayala is that it looks like he has found his three-point stroke. He looked confident shooting the 3 as he was 4/4 behind the arc. To answer the question?. It looks like Ayala is the man for the job.
Another big question entering the 2020 season was how could the Terp’s rebound from losing the 10th overall pick in this year’s NBA draft Jalen “Stix” Smith, as Stix was a beast down low. We got our first look at transfer Galen Smith and Chol Marial. Smith went 3- 5 from the field scoring six points and grabbing five rebounds. Chol also went 3 – 5 from the field scoring seven points and grabbing four rebounds.
I can’t in good conscience say that Smith and Marial are the answer on the offensive end of the floor, but defensively, they both played a pretty good game, as Smith was banging away on the glass and Marial was changing shots.
I think that as the season moves on, Smith and Marial will hopefully be more productive offensively, but the supporting cast can help to overcome the scoring. It is on the defensive end is where I want Smith and Marial to be at their best, as after this ODU game, we can see they could very well both be defensive enforcers.
I thought that freshman Aquan Smart showed some flashes of why Maryland wanted Smart. He finished his first game in a Terp’s uniform going 2 – 5 from the field scoring six points. Smart showed his quickness and shooting stroke. He is a good-looking freshman, who as the year goes on, will get more and more minutes and by season’s end Smart will be a name that Terp fans will remember for some time to come.