Maryland Basketball: Current state of affairs for Terrapins in 2020-21 season

The “Bad” for Maryland Basketball so far

Maryland has had a number of issues this year, that really need to be addressed, as I am not sure who would be at fault for this. Ok, I can overlook Maryland’s size issue and maybe not being able to stop good low post players, as we knew that going into the season.

Maryland is notorious for really slow starts, which just about every time will kill them later on in the game, as the Terp’s are not built for coming back from deficits, which will be pointed out shortly, stay with me Terp fans. Of course, turnovers do not help a team’s cause as well, but I feel they have been better when it comes to turnovers, sure they have their moments when they are a turnover machine, but they have done a great job when it comes to protecting the ball.

Here is what has killed the Terp’s and I would dare say, might have cost them two or three games in conference play. Let me know if you have watched this at all this year Terp’s fans. Maryland is shooting well and the game is close and Maryland could have a shot to win the game, but all of sudden the Terp’s scoring disappears and they don’t score for four, five, six, or seven minutes at a time and there goes the game.  If Maryland shot the ball at a more consistent clip, they might be sitting around 500% in conference play.

A recent example of this was against #4 Ohio State. Maryland played a decent first half against the #4 team in the country, as both teams were going back and forth and so at halftime, the Terp’s were down only five and sitting in a good position to have a shot at adding another top 25 team to its list. The 2nd half starts and so the downward spiral began as Ohio State went on an 11-2 run and Maryland went 0-9 in that same stretch and all of sudden was down by 14, which basically blew open the game and the Terp’s could never recover.

Against Wisconsin, the Terp’s just couldn’t get it going in the first half as they went 7-28 from the field and 2-14 from the three-point line and were down 38-20 at the half. They shot better in the second half going 12-25 from the field and 7-16 from the three-point line. In that first half Maryland just could not buy a bucket and could not get anything to fall and in the Big 10, if you cant score and get down that many, there is no hope for a victory.

One of the games the Terp’s should have won was recently against Penn State. Maryland was playing Penn State tough on the road and it was a back and forth game. Neither team was shooting all that great from the floor, so it was anybody’s game to win or lose. In Maryland’s case, it was their game to lose, as Maryland went 0-10 over the last 7:34 minutes of the game. Yes, that is correct. The Terp’s scored no points from the field in the last 7:34 minutes of the game and with the game on the line, you just can’t do that.

Maryland has done some great things this year and has achieved a couple of things I never thought I would see them achieve. Going into the season, the question was how would the Terp’s do without two there two superstars and who would step up and take over the reins and be the that big guy down low.

Maryland has been better than I thought it would be and have played beyond my expectations. Now, before you say, how can you say that, think about it for a moment. If Maryland doesn’t lay eggs in two or three of those losses, we are talking about a different team. I’m not sure why they go into long stretches without scoring, is it not running the plays the coach calls for, is it too much one on one, is it not enough ball movement?

Only time will tell, but if the Terp’s want to go dancing this year, they better figure it out real quick because this team is good enough to play in the NCAA tournament and maybe even win a couple of games. But, from here on out, we will pray that the good Maryland team shows up each and every night and not, you know, the disappearing act.