At One Point Late in the Second Half, ESPN Announcer Rebecca Lobo commented about Maryland's 27 turnovers, saying "that's pretty horrible." But she immediately followed up her remark by observing that the Terps "made up [for the TOs] with effort."Did they ever! What a great effort. And what a great show Maryland put on today for the national TV audience, and a great crowd at Comcast, in beating the #10/11 ranked Tarheels, 88-65.
We assume that, like the BCs, you either saw the game in person (as one of us did) or on TV (as the other did), so you know how it progressed: Maryland raced out to an early lead. UNC closed the gap somewhat, only to see the Terps respond and take a 12-point lead into the locker room at halftime. The second half was pretty much all Maryland, as that 12-point margin grew to 23 points before time expired. Maryland wins. The Terps move to 3-2 in ACC play.
Except for those horrible pesky turnovers, there wasn't much not to like about today's game. When it comes to writing about Maryland's great effort, we hardly know where to begin.
As a team, the Terps shot 47% from the field (wow), 45% from outside the arc (amazing), and an almost unbelievable 92% from the free throw line! Before the game, Coach B challenged her team to "own the glass" in their home arena, and Maryland did exactly that . . . outrebounding UNC 49-26, and 17 of those were offensive boards. Today's 88 points were a season high for the team. And, of the Terps' 30 baskets, 21 were assisted. What a total team effort!
As for individual contributions, there were so many! Super-frosh (and the BCs' overwhelming choice for ACC Rookie of the Year) Alyssa Thomas** led the Terps in scoring (16) and rebounding (13) . . . obviously another double-double. Three other Maryland starters had double-figure nights: Diandra, whose parents made the trip from Paris for the game (the first time they've seen her play on this side of the pond), had a fabulous performance that included 13 points, 6 rebounds, and probably most impressive of all, 4 highlight-reel blocks. Team leader Lynetta chipped in 12 points and 9 boards. And Anjale did a terrific job of finding her open teammates. "Bronx" finished with 11assists (a career high) and 8 points, falling just shy of a double-double.
Diandra and Her ParentsQuite a few of Anjale's passes ended up in the hands of freshmen reserves Alicia DeVaughn (12 points) and Laurin Mincy (10 points). They both had break-out nights . . . on national TV!
The ESPN team was certainly impressed with Maryland's young line up, as were we. They loved the enthusiasm, they loved the talent, they loved the effort they saw from the Terps today. We feel the same way. What's not to love about a big win, at home, over a (higher) nationally ranked ACC opponent . . . on ESPN! (Maybe those turnovers. But hey, nobody's perfect.)
Next up, the Terps play host to Wake Forest, at Comcast on Friday night at 8:30 PM. It will be hard to match the fun and excitement of today's game, but every ACC game counts the same in the standings, so it will be every bit as important. We hope to see you Friday night!
Go Terps . . . Beat the Demon Deacons!
Photo Credit: DC BasketCases
posted by BasketCases @ 9:15 PM
8 comments
8 Comments:
Woohoooo! Great job terps. AT is a star in the making....a big star. No let down on Friday. We need to keep it rolling.
Fantastic win! Diandre's block was sick! Loved every minute of it - well worth the trip down from NYC.
Maryland really stepped it up despite the turnovers! That's an unorthodox number to have and still win a game. It shows a lot of heart!
Any one know where Yemi was?
I was at the game. BCs, I hope you liked the pics I snapped. Those turnovers were pretty bad. Coach F was not happy about it. Can't blame here! Meantime, does anyone know who called the game with Rebecca Lobo?
Hi Stewart,
Sorry not to have run into you!
That was Holly Rowe with Rebecca Lobo.
BTW, it's Coach "B" :-)
-- BC
Thanks, BCs! Sorry about the fast fingers!
Holy Toledo what a game! Maryland's second quality victory, although its first was over St. John's, who got blown off the court yesterday by Notre Dame and is otherwise not having an outstanding season.
Our strength continues to be our ability to swarm the paint on both ends--and what a relief to see some success in scoring from beyond 10 ft., including the foul line. Our FG percentage yesterday (47.6%) was only a smidgen over our season average (44%), but our 3 pt and free throw averages were way up--45.5% vs 26%, and 92%(!) vs. 63%.
Lauren Mincy deserves a hat-tip for starting to feel her oats as a shooting guard. The more outside scoring threats we have, the better.
Carolina's stats show how discombobulated they were. They shot only 33% from the floor vs. their seasonal average of 43%, and 21% from 3pt range vs. their seasonal average of 31%. (I was surprised that they didn't call a time out sooner during the opening minutes of the second half, when we were going on another tear. Sylvia seemed to have resigned herself to taking the beating.)
But ARRGGHHH!! Those turnovers!!!!
Natasha and Kim had particularly bad days for TOs: 2 in 3 minutes of play for Natasha, and 5 in 23 minutes for Kim. Intensity is one thing; carelessness another. Sometimes, we just didn't look closely where the ball was going or what the defenders nearby were doing.
If we are diamonds in the rough, we're perhaps industrial diamonds: not pretty but we sure can make the pieces fly. Go Maryland!
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