After a half where Iowa scored 51 points on 57.1 percent shooting, coach Kevin Willard gathered Maryland men’s basketball in the Xfinity Center locker room.
Willard showed his team the Hawkeyes’ six 3-pointers coming off Maryland turnovers. He loathed their pick-and-roll defense. He emphasized the Terps re-establish their press to thwart Iowa’s offensive rhythm.
But despite the porous effort, he felt good about the Terps’ chances.
“We’re only down four,” Willard recalled telling his players. “We should be down 20.”
Maryland’s mid-game adjustments, such as introducing a zone defense and limiting transition opportunities, led to a nightmarish second half for the Hawkeyes. The Terps held them to 29.7 percent shooting and outscored the visitors by 30 during the second in a 101-75 win Sunday.
“In my opinion, in the first half we took a few plays off that we’d like to have back,” sophomore guard Rodney Rice said. “Getting over flare screens, coming back up on pin downs, not being aware of what’s going on. In the second half, we did a better job.”
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Lots of those issues were fatigue-based, something Willard expected considering Maryland had limited practice time after playing at Nebraska Thursday.
Iowa also runs a unique offense that’s tough to prepare for, according to Willard. Coach Fran McCaffery’s team boasts the second-fastest adjusted tempo in the Big Ten and a top-30 offense nationally. So Willard, who called McCaffery one of the best offensive coaches in the country, knew an explosive Iowa start was possible.
“They pass the ball so well. They’re actually fun to watch,“ Willard said. “It’s just kind of — eventually, they’re not going to make every shot.”
That proclamation certainly proved accurate. Iowa missed all 13 of its 3-point attempts in the second after making eight in the first, and its points off turnovers advantage disappeared.
Willard said Maryland’s second-half zone took Iowa out of its rhythm. The Terps disrupted Iowa’s off-ball movement, making players float around the perimeter. Junior guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie added that the Terps ran Iowa off the 3-point line, forcing them to put the ball on the ground and take contested 2-pointers.
[No. 25 Maryland men’s basketball dominates second half in 101-75 win over Iowa]
Those adjustments propelled the Terps to one of their strongest halves of the season — one that showed their ceiling when both defense and offense fall into place.
Maryland’s offense, which is up to No. 16 in the country according to KenPom, has been elite lately. That much was evident after it scored 101 points against Iowa, its most-ever points in a Big Ten game.
What was becoming more of a concern was the other side of the ball, where the Terps allowed their last four opponents to reel off halves with 40 points or more. But the second half of Sunday’s contest seemed to halt those concerns.
Rice isn’t worried about it, either.
“We’re versatile. We got guys that can put the ball in the basket at a high level,” Rice said. “And we’re just as good defensively as we are offensively. We’re going to lock down on defense.”
