Maryland’s best defense for a stagnant offense is not to let its guard down
Then Duane Washington Jr. nailed a three-pointer for the Buckeyes and Maryland’s Eric Ayala missed one on the other end. Ohio State, playing fast in transition, found Justin Ahrens on the wing for another shot from deep. Maryland Coach Mark Turgeon called a timeout with 5:24 left in the half, but his team’s struggles continued. The Terps missed their next four field goal attempts and turned the ball over twice. Their lead evaporated, and Ohio State seized control — the painful product of that extended slump.
Maryland has run into similar problems throughout the season. All teams endure poor shooting stretches, but the ruts the Terps get into have been particularly pronounced because their offensive issues have occasionally melded into their defensive lapses.
The Terps have dealt with long field goal droughts in their last two games, both losses. At Penn State, Maryland’s defense played well enough to keep the game from slipping out of grasp, but the Terps went six minutes without a basket to start first half and then finished the game in another drought that lasted more than seven minutes.
Against Ohio State, Maryland endured that 16-3 Buckeyes run. To begin the second half, Maryland missed its first nine field goal attempts, despite some good looks.
“We couldn’t make a shot to start the second half,” Turgeon said after the 73-65 defeat. “We go through those lulls. That’s just who we are. We’ve got to keep guarding. And we didn’t guard during that stretch the way we needed to guard. Didn’t run back every time. That was the only negative. Just missing assignments.”
During Big Ten play, the Terps (10-10, 4-9) have had 16 field goal droughts that lasted more than four minutes, including ones that spanned the first and second halves, and a late-game stretch at Minnesota when the Gophers were intentionally fouling. The Penn State loss — Maryland’s lowest-scoring outing of the season — featured the Terps struggling through three droughts of that length. Their worst stretch of the season came against Iowa, when a 10-point lead turned into a 10-point deficit thanks to 11 missed shots and 15 empty possessions.
The droughts, however, do not necessarily doom the Terps — or any team that inevitably weathers similar stretches. Extended periods without a basket have appeared in some of Maryland’s wins, too. The difference comes when the Terps’ defense does enough to keep opponents from generating a significant run.
When Maryland went more than seven minutes without scoring at Wisconsin, the Terps held Badgers to six points and Wisconsin’s lead never grew to double digits. Maryland climbed back and left Madison with a win over the Badgers, who were ranked No. 6 at the time.
If Maryland’s defense stumbles at the same time as its offense goes cold, the game can quickly change — just as it did when Ohio State made three straight three-pointers during one of Maryland’s long field goal droughts.
“Maybe our offense affected our defense — us not making shots,” Ayala said, “so it was like a snowball effect.”
Despite those lapses against the Buckeyes, the Terrapins’ defense has improved as the season has progressed. Turgeon and his players have embraced a defensive identity, which propelled them to wins at Wisconsin, Illinois and Minnesota and at home against Purdue.
The Terps still need a more consistent offense, particularly as they head into Sunday’s home game against Minnesota and a pair of games Tuesday and Wednesday against struggling Nebraska, which has yet to defeat a conference opponent. A solid stretch of performances could significantly improve Maryland’s record and résumé.
Turgeon has said that he simplified the offensive scheme in order for his players to execute it well. All teams must weather occasional lulls; the objective is to simply limit those stretches that can threaten the outcome of a game. And when asked about a solution to his team’s offensive slumps, Turgeon pointed toward the other end of the floor.
“The one thing I think we can do,” Turgeon said, “is we can play 40 minutes of defense.”
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