Extreme Commanders

Excellent win yesterday on the road…again! Willard leaned hard on, what has become, his big 5, and they didn’t disappoint. Played hard and well throughout against a tough, and BIG, team.

Terps looked like they might put the game away early, like they did to Illinois the other night, but Indiana kept themselves in the game by shooting lights out for a stretch, after Maryland had taken a 10 point lead. Great shot by Rice to provide the winning margin, and good defense to not let the Hoosiers get off a decent chance. Sometimes ya gotta get lucky too.

Two wins on the road in the B1G back to back is huge, and hopefully will provide momentum for the rest of the season. Terps are alone in 5th right now, and have a big game at Xfinity against 4th place Wisconsin Wednesday night. Stay hot, and they’ve got a chance at one of those top 4 spots for the conference tournament.

Excellent win last night against a tough team who came in playing hot. Was a total all around effort, as both Queen and Gillespie were struggling at the offensive end most of the night. They both hit big shots late, and Queen hit big free throws down the stretch, but they both played strong in all other aspects of the game. Queen’s best defensive performance this year, IMO, as he was huge on the glass, got in passing lanes, and blocked shots. Would have had a couple more blocks, if not for very questionable foul calls. Gillespie rebounded great for a smaller backcourt player, hounded their guards all night, and was strong as ball handler/leader.

All stats coming in pointed to an offensive game, but both teams ratcheted up their defense, and turned it into a tough physical matchup. Terps were up for it, and never backed down, even when they went down by 7. The two road wins were huge, but a loss last night would have blunted that momentum. Instead, Maryland stepped up, and kept that momentum building.

Terps get a week off now, and travel to Ohio next week, where I’m sure the Buckeyes (who are also playing very well now) will be looking to avenge the beat down Maryland laid on them back in early December. After that, Terps have 3 home games broken up by only one road game, and that is at Nebraska. All those are winnable games, and if they do happen to win 4 of their next 5, that will put them squarely in the top 4 of the B1G, for the double bye in the conference tournament. A graphic last night showed that of the top 5 B1G teams, Maryland had played easily the toughest schedule to date, so I’d expect those other 4 teams to hit some bumps in their road upcoming.

Another great win!
Fear the Turtle!

It was indeed a great win. Those final 10 minutes were almost all Terps. I was really glad to see DHS come in and make an impact, he hit a big momentum 3 then had an assist on a Rice 3. It is so refreshing to have guards that can hit threes! Guys pick each other up. Queen does have a tendency to throw up awkward off-balance shots, that is something he needs to work on a lot in terms of shot selection. But he did indeed have a great defensive game. He also runs the floor very well for a big man, had a nice transition layup. Reese has stepped it up offensively the past two weeks.