Pick Three

Sometimes, if you haven't actually seen a game, the box score doesn't give you an accurate picture of what really happened over the course of 40 minutes and why one team won and the other team lost. Often, box scores are just a bunch of numbers from which you have to piece things together. But the BCs saw all of Maryland's ACC home opener against Boston College (in person) at Comcast tonight, and we have no problem saying that this game's box score makes it unmistakably clear why the Terps lost a game they couldn't afford to lose, 69-78.

These three stats from the Maryland half of the box score tell it all:

1. The Terps hit only 32.9% of their shots -- 28 of 85. (85 field goal attempts? When's the last time you saw a team take 85 shots? Looking at it another way, the Terps missed 57 shots tonight -- as many shots as the Eagles took in the entire game.) We guess you could say it wasn't one of Maryland's better shooting nights.

2. The Terps hit only 5% of their 3-point shots -- 1 0f 20. OMG . . . and we don't mean the good kind of OMG. We guess you could say they were a little cold from beyond the arc. (That's probably the biggest understatement since Noah stood on the deck of his ark and said "looks like we're in for a little rain.")

3. And, finally, while the Terps entered the game as a a fairly mediocre free throw shooting team, tonight "mediocre" would've been great! If the Terps had simply been "mediocre," they probably would've won. The words we overheard from (usually positive, supportive, upbeat) Maryland fans as we exited the arena about the team's free throw shooting included "horrible," "awful" and even "pathetic." At the line tonight, the Terps hit only 12 of 28. Significantly, only 5 of those points came in the 2nd half; the same half in which the Eagles scored 17 points from the line. That's a 12-point edge for BC right there. We guess you could say if any stat sealed the Terps' fate tonight, and explains how the Terps turned an 8-point half-time lead into a 9-point loss, this may be the one.

In contrast -- and to the Eagles' credit -- they made their free throws(18-22), they nailed 8 from beyond the arc, and they shot an overall 45.6% from the floor.

Both BC and Maryland entered tonight's game with identical 0-1 ACC conference records. One team was going to even their record and one team was going to fall further behind. Unfortunately, it's the Terps who ended the night still sitting at the bottom of the ACC standings. This was one they needed to win . . . and could have won. But to put it bluntly, BC executed . . . the Terps did not.

This one wasn't fun. Not for the team; not for the coaches; and not for the fans.

We know (we've seen it) that the Terps can do better. And maybe it's good that they're now hitting the road: first Clemson (3 PM on Sunday), and then Virginia (the following Friday). The road gives the team a chance to re-group, re-focus, and hopefully get back on track before facing the Tarheels next at Comcast.

Opening 0-2 is disappointing. But the season's still young. We expect to see a lot of good basketball from the Terps . . . not like what we saw tonight.

Go Terps . . . Beat the Tigers! Pleeeze . . . Beat Clemson!!!