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Mercer VS. Terps
By Justin L. Judging by the attendance at the Mercer game, the Maryland student body must have been hard at work studying. Is it me or did it seem like Comcast was empty? The crowd was announced as 17,950 but looked more like 1,795. Maybe the students were over at Ludwig Field cheering the men’s soccer team to victory - for those who don’t know, the men’s soccer advanced to the third round of the NCAA tournament by beating Hofstra, 4-0. Moving on to basketball…
First Half
The Terps simply overpowered Mercer. After scoring only one basket in the first two minutes of the game, the shots started to fall and the Terps were on their way. Pressure defense was the name of the game and it paid off again. The Terps scored 12 points off of turnovers and 10 via the fast break. The half ended on a 10-0 run by Maryland, providing an 18 point advantage at the break.
Second Half
The second half started slowly for Maryland resulting in a 9-5 Mercer run. The Terps were ahead by fourteen points when Coach Williams earned a technical foul. The technical occurred about five minutes into the second half and seemed to energize the team. Over the next six minutes, Maryland went on a 21-9 run which pretty much ended the game. The Terps closed the door in the second half by matching the defensive intensity of the first. Their effort resulted in 12 points off of turnovers and 10 fast break points (see first half numbers).
Final Score: Terps 93, Mercer 67
Overall, I thought the team played well. One can’t help but be impressed with the improvement of the team’s free throw shooting. Perfect at the half, the Terps ended up shooting 75% from the line. The only Terp to miss two or more free throws was Ibekwe, and he missed four. The team, excluding Ibekwe, shot 81% - not too shabby. Let’s hope the improvement continues throughout the rest of the season.
Report Card
Travis Garrison: D- The Good: Zippy. Okay, he did have one nice assist. The Bad: Shot 2-8 from the floor in 18 minutes. Injured his ankle but I’m not sure how much it affected his performance.
Nik Caner Medley: A The Good: Went 2-2 from the foul line, grabbed 6 boards, scored team high 21 points, and converted 9-14 field goals. The Bad: Not so much.
Ekene Ibekwe: C The Good: Grabbed a team high 7 boards, and had 2 blocks. The Bad: Shot 1-9 from the field and 2-6 from the charity stripe.
John Gilchrest: A The Good: 5-8 from the field, 2-2 from three-point land, 6 assists, 1 block, and 4 steals. The Bad: 5 turnovers.
Chris McCray: A The Good: 4-4 from the foul line, 15 points, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks, and 4 steals. The Bad: Shot 1-6 from three-point land.
DJ Strawberry: A The Good: 13 points on 4-5 shooting from the field, 4-5 from the charity stripe, 4 assists, and 2 steals. The Bad: 3 turnovers
Sterling Ledbetter: DNP The Good: The Bad:
James Gist: A The Good: In 19 minutes he scored 10 points, grabbed 3 boards, 2 blocks, 2 steals, 0 turnovers. The Mediocre: Shot 4-9 from the field.
Mike Jones: D The Good: 2-2 from the foul line, 5 rebounds, 1 steal The Bad: Shot 1-7 from the floor, and at times, still looks clueless on the floor.
Will Bowers: D The Good: 4 rebounds The Bad: The rest of his game. He’s just too slow.
Hassan Fofana: C+ The Good: Shot 2-4 from the field for 4 points and 1 assist in 7 minutes of play The Bad: 2 turnovers |