Overview

Location: Champaign, Illinois

Date: January 10, 2020

Time: 7pm CT

TV: BTN

Maryland travels to Champaign, Illinois on Sunday to take on Illinois. The Fighting Illini (9-3, 5-1) are off to their best start in B10 play since the iconic 2004-2005 campaign. They will be looking for a win in hope to keep pace with the current B10 leaders: Michigan (5-0), Iowa (4-1), and Wisconsin (4-1).

On the other side of the ball, Maryland is off to it’s poorest start in B10 play since joining the conference in 2014. The Terrapins are 1-4 in conference play, although their lone win was a surprising defeat of the Wisconsin Badgers in Madison. They are the first team to win in Madison since… the Fighting Illini went into the Kohl Center last December (2019).

Roster Breakdown

Rotation:

Last year, the Terps were one of the programs hit hardest by the news of the cancelled NCAA tournament. With two first team All-B10 caliber players in Jalen ‘Sticks’ Smith and Anthony Cowan, and a strong supporting cast, Maryland looked like a team capable of making a deep tournament run. With the two aforementioned stars departing the 2019 CO-B10 champions, Maryland’s supporting cast has been forged into the spotlight, albeit a dim one at a current record of 6-6.

That supporting cast primarily consisted of guards Eric Ayala, Darryl Morsell, Aaron Wiggins, and forward Donta Scott. Joining these four in this year’s starting lineup is Galin Smith.

Starting Lineup

Ayala has bounced back from a down sophomore campaign to lead the Terps in scoring at 14ppg. He also serves as their primary ball handler. Wiggins was on NBA draft radars following his freshman season and looks the part at an athletic 6’6 200 pounds. Although he hasn’t quite met that level of hype, he’s had a productive junior season and has the highest usage rate on the team. Finally, Morsell offers the senior leadership and experience this team needs. He is a jack of all trades, a plus defender with good athleticism, and isn’t afraid to hit a big shot.

Darryl Morsell hits a shot to secure a share of the B10 title.

*News has broken that Ayala will not play in this game due to an injury suffered vs Iowa.

Note: Morsell will be wearing a mask after suffering a face injury following an elbow to the face against Michigan on Dec 31^st. It remains to be seen if he’ll be in the starting lineup after coming off the bench the last time out against Iowa.

Donta Scott and Galin Smith anchor Maryland on the interior. Scott showed promise last year as a freshman and has continued to develop nicely in his sophomore year averaging nearly 13ppg and 7rpg. Despite being listed at 6’7, Scott is a bruising player who has been guarding a lot of big men this year. He’s also shooting 51% from 3. Smith – listed at 6’9 – seems to be the only true post player on the roster that plays meaningful minutes.

Bench

Key contributors off the bench include Hakim Hart and Jarius Hamilton. Hart is another guard with good size and shows good promise as a sophomore. He is another Terp shooting just under 40% from 3 on the season. Hamilton provides Maryland with more size at 6’8 235 pounds. But he plays more like a wing and similar to Hart shoots just under 40% from 3.

Aquan Smart is the only remaining Terrapin averaging over 10 minutes per game. Still a freshman, he seems to be a complementary piece at this point, similar to a Coleman Hawkins type of role. Last time out vs Iowa, he recorded a stat line of 3 points and 2 assists in 10 minutes of action.

Rounding out Maryland’s key contributors is a very interesting piece in Chol Marial. The sophomore Sudanese big man catches your eye at 7’2. However, he hasn’t provided much production this year after an injury riddled freshman campaign. He is currently playing around 8 minutes per game.

Roster Analysis

The first thing that will stand out to Illini fans is that Maryland seems to have no true big man. In a league filled with elite bigs (Garza, Kofi, Dickinson, Potter, Reuvers, Trevian Williams, Robbins, etc.) Maryland is often playing a 6’7 man in Donta Scott downlow. Look for Illinois to feed Kofi early and often in this one. And if they don’t, things could get interesting.

While Maryland isn’t that big in the post, the equivalent can’t be said about their perimeter. All three of their guards are listed as being around the same size as Ayo. Can the Terps capitalize against smaller guards such as Frazier and Curbelo?

Offensive Schemes

Due to their lack of size, Maryland will run a lot of 5 out offense. Within this offense there is a lot of dribble hand offs (similar to one of Illinois’ schemes) and ball screens. Once they have this motion rolling, there will be a lot of dribble drives and probing within the 3 point line. If they have an open lane to the hoop, then they’ll obviously take it. But the main purpose of this motion is to get the defense shifting and out of position. Then the Terps are able to kick out for an open 3, or potentially another drive to further shift the defense.

Darryl Morsell and Jarius Hamilton dribble drive until they get into the lane.

Maryland completely spreads the floor allowing Aaron Wiggins to get an and 1.

Maryland capitalizes on their mobile lineup by making big men guard on the perimeter. Here Danta Scott takes Nate Reuvers to the rim.

Analysis

Notice how open the lane is in all of the previous clips. Will Maryland attempt to make Kofi guard out on the 3 point line? Furthermore, will Maryland go to a spread offense and incorporate the pick and roll with Kofi? Teams have been attacking Illinois and Cockburn in the pick n’ roll this year. The Terps may be able to get a lot of mid range jump shots with these screens and their spacing.

Defense

Maryland primarily plays man to man defense. In their man to man schemes, they aren’t afraid to switch every ball screen with. With limited size and Donta Scott sometimes playing as their 5 man, they are all equipped to play perimeter defense (the exceptions being Galin Smith and Chol Marial). When there is a scoring big with the ball in the post, Maryland will send the double team. If Illinois is able to feed Kofi and Giorgi often in this one, shooters like Frazier and Miller may have some good opportunities on kick-outs.

Maryland sends the double-team at Micah Potter causing the defense to shift off balance for an eventual open Dmitrik Trice 3.

When they are struggling, or want to throw a change-up at teams, Maryland will sometimes fall back on a 3-2 zone defense. When they switch to this action, they like to put someone with length on the point of the zone (e.g. Wiggins or Scott) to cause turnovers.

Aaron Wiggins gets the steal and finish off the 3-2 zone.

Finally, if Maryland really wants to throw a wrinkle at the opposing offense, they will show a 2-2-1 full court press. This is a rare occurrence, but can be troublesome when the other team isn’t expecting it.

Analysis

Maybe Maryland will look at Illinois’ first half vs Northwestern, where Illinois looked like a middle school team who had never seen a zone defense before. But more than likely they will start out in man to man. The big question is whether they will double Kofi Cockburn or not. If they don’t, the big man should be able to feast on Maryland’s lack of size. It will be interesting to see if Maryland will utilize 7’2 Chol Marial or not.

Other Fun Maryland Stats

• Maryland scores over 80 points per game in wins, about 63 per game in losses.
• Maryland has beaten 1 team in the top 120 of KenPom, at Wisconsin
• Shooting over 50% from the field in wins. Only 41% in losses.
• The Terrapins average rebound margin is +8 in wins, but -7 in losses.
• Drawing 20 fouls per game in wins, 14 in losses.
• Go to the line 9 times more per game in wins as opposed to losses.
• Similar to Illinois, the Terps are shooting bad from the FT line in losses (57%).
• Have only gone to the free throw line less than their opponent in 1 game (Mount Saint Mary’s).
• Have only played one team with a similar tempo to Illinois (L to Iowa).
• Losing by an average of over 7 points per game to top 20 kenpom defenses.
• Often play lineups where each player is shooting 35% or higher from 3pt range. Kofi will have to cover.

The Big Ten Network and Fox Sports Network own the rights to all of the video displayed in the GIF’s provided.

Information and statistics gathered from SportsReference and Kenpom.