So the Terps lost to Wisconsin 78-69 to finish fourth in the 2009 Maui Invitational. It was their second loss in two days after being overmatched in every sense that that word can convey against Cincinnati.
There are a few causes. One is Grevis Vasquez’s continued shooting woes (4-11 until garbage time). Another is that Wisconsin simply won the battle of wills in terms of game style. Who knew it was legal to actually remove the air from the basketball during play? Check and mate, Phoenix Suns.
Perhaps the biggest problem, however, was perimeter defense. They don’t exactly have the arc on lockdown…it’s like the Shawshank Redemption up in there, ba dum bum. But seriously, folks, their plan seems to be all playground style…once it’s clear someone is definitely going to shoot a three (ie, once it’s too late), someone runs at the shooter and throws up a hand. Sometimes I can almost hear them calling out “don’t miss!” as the ball goes up. Extremely effective back in my driveway against that twitchy kid with the Garbage Pail Kid in his bike spoke. Not so effective against Division I basketball opponents.
Don’t believe me? Let’s go to the stats. Wisconsin hit 45 percent from three against the Terps. In their other two games in Maui, they shot 27 percent against Arizona and 21 percent against Gonzaga. So they DOUBLED their output against the Terps. Maryland held Cincinnati to 24 percent shooting from three. That’s great and all, but Vanderbilt held them to 20. Prairie View A&M, the university known for its prairie views, held them to 27.
There are a couple of teams on the horizon who are pretty decent at shooting. Indiana, for one. Villanova, for another. Duke and Carolina, for a third and fourth. If we’re going to be all half-hearted in contesting the three-pointer, well, that’s not gonna win us many ball games. I’m not a coach. I’m just saying.
For more on Maryland basketball (and all other Maryland sports), check out www.shell-games.com.
[...] is all particularly troubling since Maryland has had trouble with their perimeter defense, preferring the run-out-there-and-yell-HEY-DON’T-MISS approach over a more demonstrably [...]