Maryland basketball’s four-point loss to the No. 9 Oregon Ducks isn’t disappointing but itself. But the trend of struggling in similar situations isn’t good.
Sunday’s 83-79 outcome looked awfully familiar to every Maryland loss this season. The Terps once again led at halftime and lost a lead. They’ve repeatedly struggled to slow down the opponent’s star. Willard is now 5-19 on the road in Big Ten games.
The Terps dropped to 1-3 in Big Ten play and 0-2 on their west coast trip. Maryland looks like a tournament team and analytics love their squad, but it also has some warning signs.
Today’s showing pointed to a troubling trend: this Terps defense isn’t playing like a traditional Willard unit. They’ve now allowed 73 points per game to high major opponents. Willard’s defense has allowed opponents’ top scorers to explode – Marquette’s Kam Jones, Villanova’s Eric Dixon and Washington’s Great Osobor all scored 20 or more points.
“We have to get back and spend three days of good practice in College Park and get our defense where it needs to be,” Willard said.
It was Jackson Shelstad’s night on Sunday. The sophomore was a preseason All-Big Ten pick, but he’s struggled this season (28.6% from three). He was on fire against the Terps though, scoring 23 points on 80% shooting. He made a career-high five threes.
Shelstad hit some tough shots, but Oregon’s offense was in a complete rhythm. Willard changed defenses multiple times, switching to his secondary zone look. Nothing worked.
Oregon’s entire operation was humming; Dana Altman’s offenses have always been predicated on versatile perimeter scoring. Nine different Ducks average more than seven points. The Ducks scored 1.3 points per possession and scored on over 55% of their possessions.
The defensive effort was even more disappointing considering how well Maryland’s offense played. Coming off a disjointed performance against Washington, the Terps rediscovered some rhythm.
Both Derik Queen and Ja’Kobi Gillespie rebounded from dreadful showings; Gillespie in particular recovered from a bad first half to score 16 points.
And when those two were off, it was Maryland’s microwave scorer who found his early-season self. Rodney Rice hit three triples and finished with 19 points.
“I feel like we’ve gotten our rhythm back offensively,” Willard said.
Maryland’s 45 first-half points were their most in the opening half since its 50 point showing against Ohio State. It was an encouraging performance, especially considering Illinois scored 109 points against the Ducks on Thursday.
The problem was they allowed 42 points to the Ducks. And Altman outclassed Willard in the halftime adjustments, switching to a matchup zone defense that slowed down the Terps. Meanwhile, Oregon shot 14-27 and 6-11 from three in the second half.
“The start of second halves have been absolutely brutal and we just have to do a better job with those,” Willard said.
Winning on the road in the Big Ten is hard. Rutgers coach Steve Piekell once called it “the most difficult thing to do in college basketball.” But this pattern of close road losses has spanned across three seasons. Now, Maryland’s staring at a 1-3 record in conference with even more ranked teams upcoming.
Before you go …
— Save $20 on your SeatGeek purchase of tickets to Maryland games or any major events with code “IMS” at checkout!
— Get the latest Terps news delivered to your inbox FREE! Sign up for our email newsletter here and stay informed on Maryland basketball, football, recruiting and every other Terps storyline.
— Support Maryland basketball’s recruiting and player-retention efforts by joining TurtleNIL!
— Follow IMS on Facebook, Twitter, Tiktok and Instagram.
— Don’t miss any of our new video Terps content: Subscribe to InsideMDSports on YouTube and hit the notification bell so you know when new videos drop.
– Need a go-to Terps podcast? Listen to IMS Radio here, watch earlier episodes here and don’t forget to subscribe to IMS Radio on iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher | Podbean | Amazon Music | TuneIn | Apple Podcasts
