The last time the Terrapins men’s basketball team won a home game by more than six points, it was Jan. 17. The Terps were 17-2, had just thrashed Michigan State and looked poised to break into the Associated Press Top 10.
A lot’s happened in the month since. Coach Mark Turgeon’s squad has shown an array of weaknesses many of us never knew existed. It suffered blowout losses on the road at Indiana, Ohio State and Iowa and endured significant adversity for the first time this year.
But through it all, the Terps never dropped a game in front of their home fans at Xfinity Center — a streak that continued Thursday night when they rode Melo Trimble’s 26 points and sharp shooting to a 69-65 victory over Nebraska. They’re now 16-1 in College Park this season, with their lone loss coming to now-No. 2 Virginia.
Still, it was another home game that had no business being so close, much like the buzzer-beating win over Northwestern and the sloppy victory against Penn State.
Regardless of the reason for the narrow margins of victory — whether it’s because of the depth of the Big Ten, the Terps’ tendency to play down to their opponent, or a combination of both — Turgeon and his players emerged victorious against the Cornhuskers. And ultimately, that’s all that matters for March.
Here are my takeaways.
– After the Terps squeaked past the Nittany Lions in State College, Pennsylvania, for a three-point victory on Valentine’s Day, Turgeon referred to Dez Wells, Jake Layman and Trimble as his “big three.”
The label was never truer than Thursday night. Led by Trimble, the trio combined for 54 of the team’s 69 points, 15 of the team’s 26 rebounds and seven of the team’s nine assists.
All three made big plays over the course of the game.
There was Layman’s electrifying transition dunk off a beautiful feed from Trimble.
There was Wells’ sweet spin and midrange jumper off the dribble — a true NBA-level move.
But Trimble topped both of them with two ice-in-his-veins threes down the stretch. According to Turgeon, it was “just Melo being Melo.”
There is some marginal concern with Layman, Trimble and Wells carrying so much of the load, though. The Terps mustered just six bench points compared to 36 for the Cornhuskers, a big reason why the game was so close.
Turgeon has to get more production out of the other seven players in his 10-man rotation, because if one of the big three isn’t on, his team will be in trouble (see: Iowa, Ohio State).
– The Terps rebounding was horrendous Thursday night. There’s simply no other way to put it.
Nebraska entered the game tied for 331st in the country in offensive rebounding at eight per game. It hauled in 10 against the Terps, who managed just a single offensive rebound all night.
The onus falls on Turgeon’s bigs. Damonte Dodd, Jon Graham, Evan Smotrycz and Michal Cekovsky grabbed four total rebounds combined in the win.
That stat looks even worse when you consider the Cornhuskers played one player taller than 6-foot-8 in the game.
– On a positive note, the Terps were stout defensively for a majority of the contest, as they’ve been for a majority of the season.
Specifically, guard Richaud Pack and Wells did a tremendous job limiting Terran Petteway, the Cornhuskers’ leading scorer who entered the game averaging nearly 19 points per game but scored just eight on 2 of 14 shooting in the loss at Xfinity Center on Thursday night.
Turgeon said the team’s defensive game plan for the contest revolved around disrupting Petteway, and Nebraska coach Tim Miles commended Wells in particular for shutting down his dangerous offensive threat.
– For maybe the first time all season Thursday night — or at least the first time in recent memory — Smotrycz entered the game to cheers from the Xfinity Center fans.
The senior forward has encountered boos when he’s stepped on the floor at home for much of this year, presumably because fans are frustrated with his play — some of which has been the result of injury.
But after an 0 of 4 shooting night, including three badly missed three-pointers, fans were fed up. Boos echoed around the stadium after Smotrycz’s final brick from downtown with just more than five minutes remaining.
I get the reaction. As an onlooker, it’s tough to pinpoint why Smotrycz continues to get minutes (he played 19 Thursday night despite a putrid offensive showing).
In theory, he spaces the floor. But he’s shooting less than 30 percent on the season. And at times, the senior’s displayed poor shot selection and lazy defense — the types of plays that make a fan facepalm and, if in attendance, boo his or her heart out.
I couldn’t get a question in during Turgeon’s news conference about Smoctryz. But I asked Pack, an honest and genuine personality, what he thinks his teammate brings to the floor.
“Evan spaces the floor. Even if he misses shots, people know he can shoot,” Pack said. “Then he gets people open because he’s fast. He doesn’t seem like the quickest guy, but he gets by fives pretty easily, so that opens up shots and backdoor cuts and different things for other guys. And then he keeps his man in front of him defensively. He doesn’t try to do anything crazy. He just contains his man and plays the right way and guards ball screens the right way. So he’s effective even when he’s not scoring.”
There you have it.
So while the boos may be justified from an outside perspective, understand that Smotrycz has value in ways many can’t see.
