The Terps look to avenge the 41 point humiliating blowout loss to Duke from earlier in the season as they are coming off arguably the most gratifying and significant win in recent memory since winning the ACC Tournament in 2004,. Maryland corrected many of the miscues that occurred in the first meeting against the Blue Devils to defeat UNC on Saturday.
Where Duke can methodically work their spread offense in a half court set play, UNC looks at every opportunity to keep the game running from end to end negating much of their size and three point shooting ability. It is what allowed Maryland more of an opportunity to stay in the game without the scoring struggles in a half court offense that doomed them for most of the first Duke game.
Motivation:
Maryland has more than just the usual motivation factor for the upcoming game. The blowout loss suffered at the hands of Duke served up a loss more befitting a 1 vs. 16 NCAA Tournament 1st Round thumping reserved for small basketball division one program. The loss sapped the Terps confidence as the critics and the conference saw it as an opportunity to take advantage of the perceived to be falling program at College Park. This time around the Terps are looking to regain their respect in the conference against Duke after becoming the laughing stock of every major media outlet the night of the loss.
Mental Toughness:
The Terps looked like a broken team that lost its confidence at Duke. This Maryland team must maintain its focus and aggression. Duke feeds off of its opponent's confusion to turn mistakes into quick baskets. As a result, Maryland should look to push the ball up court before Duke has a chance to set up its defense. When Duke extends its defense to half court or press from the inbounds, the Terps should slow the tempo and maintain its poise and keep its composure. Duke presses on defense to disrupt the opposition's offense.
Maryland shouldn't allow itself to succumb to the pressure as it did in the first game by working to make a pass to relieve the pressure and instead work to attack the basket by reading and recognizing when to dribble and where to pass the ball. Gary's trained them how to play, but it's up to the players to stay mentally tough and execute despite the pressure. Maryland can ill afford quick scoring plays by Duke and long scoring droughts on their own part.
The Deceiving Statistic:
Throughout the season the media has focused its attention on the excellent free throw shooting of the Terps, but has failed to state it's a result of a lack of front court players. Most poor shooting teams have front court players that have a bad free throw percentage. The Terps are a guard laden team that should and does shoot free throws at a high percentage. The issue is the number of attempts. An aggressive team won't just shoot from a good percentage but will have a high number of attempts usually resulting in attacking the basket and not settling for long range jump shots that are sometimes contested. Maryland must attack the basket more with dribble penetration and gain more attempts from the line.
The Rotation:
As the Terrapins have burst back onto the NCAA Tournament scene, the rotation has formed. Besides Vasquez, Hayes, Bowie, Milbourne, & Neal, the Terps also have found a substitution pattern involving Gregory, Burney, Mosely, and Tucker. Neal's size and girth was a strength against North Carolina, but its Gregory and Burney agility and shot blocking ability that will be needed to scrap for loose balls and limit the Blue Devils possessions.
Milbourne has had a difficult task on this undersized team all season. He has the physique to assist a small team by going into the land of giants for rebounds and fouls that could place him at the line to shoot free throws but doesn't as often as he should. It may not be fair, but when smaller players have played bigger and done it before, it's what is needed and been missing in Milbourne's game. He'll need a big game against Duke to help the Terps win.
The Aura of Duke:
These aren't the Duke teams that had Hill and Laettner or Williams or Brand or Reddick or Langdon. No it's a spread offense without a dominating low post player or pure shooter with the ability of a Reddick or boast the intense defensive prowess of a Battier. Like most teams living off of a reputation based on previous seasons it's not how Duke gives a punch but how they take one. Do they respond with another knockout blow or fall back? Last game Duke knocked out the smaller squad from Maryland from the start. This game the Terps look to fight back.
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