The opening night of Maryland's much-hyped basketball season produced the sort of performance that can generally be expected in mid-November.
The Terrapins weren't perfect. They clearly need some work defensively on the perimeter.
Oh, and they can score. A lot. From just about anywhere.
Maryland's 80-56 defeat of Mount St. Mary's was never in much doubt after the first 10 minutes. For as long as the Mountaineers (0-1) are --- and considering their size, they'll be a fascinating team to watch in the guard-centric Northeast Conference --- they weren't going to out-athlete the Terps anywhere on the floor.
Jake Layman's senior season started with promise, a 16-point showing. Melo Trimble (14points) had a standard-issue game, which is to say a good one. And Diamond Stone had 10 points in a solid debut, while Robert Carter Jr. posted 10 points and eight rebounds.
Meanwhile, the Terps comfortably rotated nine players throughout.
Much more will be learned about Maryland on Tuesday, when Georgetown pays a visit. But there were a few notable things worth mentioning to cap the first night of the season.
1. The Terrapins were a bit careless with the ball in the early going. The biggest nit to pick with Maryland in its opener? Eight turnovers in 36 first-half possessions. Half of the giveaways came from the bigs, the Terps had only six giveaways after the break and things generally don't look great on Nov. 13. Nonetheless, it was a sloppy start.
2. Rasheed Sulaimon started, Jared Nickens came off the bench ... and both will play plenty. Sulaimon, the Duke transfer, played 29 minutes and finished with five points. Nickens, who got the nod in last week's exhibition game, had 11 points in 23 minutes. But with Dion Wiley not expected to play this season because of meniscus surgery, the minutes splits for those two won't be all that interesting unless either logs far less than 20 minutes.
3. Maryland received a defensive test from an opponent only too happy to bomb away. Mount St. Mary's hit 10 shots from 3-point range, which might be a concern for Maryland were it not for the fact the Mountaineers are not remotely bashful. BK Ashe (18 points) will shoot when open, Will Miller (10 points) is on the floor to stretch the defense and Gregory Graves' improved outside shooting will make him dangerous against a lot opponents. Maryland's perimeter defense wasn't as sharp as it could be, but the Mountaineers were going to attack from out there anyway.
4. Mount St. Mary's will be fine ... as soon as it gets done with the first four games of its schedule. Mount coach Jamion Christian front-loaded his schedule this year, with the Mountaineers facing Maryland, Ohio State, Washington and Gonzaga in a nine-day span to open the year. Once clear of that, look for the Mount to settle in for a strong season. It is a capable offensive team that was quietly quite strong on defense in league play. This won't be a top-100 win for Maryland --- the NEC is not exactly a hotbed of great RPI teams --- but Mount St. Mary's could easily land in the top 150 by year's end.
Glad to read your coverage of the Terps again!!!
Posted by: Ckstevenson | 11/14/2015 at 08:38 AM