Maryland-Morgan State: Bears Rip the Heart Out of the Terrapin Press

The Morgan State Bears beat the Maryland Terrapins last night in College Park 66-65, taking a big bite out of the vaunted pressure defense that has been a trademark of UMD basketball.

With their first conference game coming up on Saturday against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, this was not the ending that anyone wearing the home white uniform wanted to happen.

Failing to execute their patented “Maryland press” down the stretch, the Terps looked complacent and came up short despite taking a 14-point lead midway through the second half.

In a post-game interview, Coach Gary Williams analyzed how relying on pressure defense works if you take advantage of the offense’s weaknesses.

“The one thing about pressure defense is you really get exposed when you’re not working hard,” said Williams.  “The press is one thing, but after we scored a couple of times, they just threw it to half court and went down and scored on us, whether we were pressing or not pressing.  We weren’t getting back at all."

Several times in the game, Maryland’s guards would meet Morgan State’s guards at half court and catch them in a trap. 

And just as Coach Williams said, as soon as an open man swung around to help beat the press, a scoring opportunity emerged.

Morgan State exposed Maryland’s predictability and capitalized on their sluggish play.

The Terrapins (11-3) dropped their first game since late November and saw their nine-game home winning streak squashed.

Things looked good for Maryland to keep the streak alive early on, forcing Morgan State to play at their pace.

The Bears (6-8) were making mistakes, turning the ball over to let Maryland control the tempo of the game.

Maryland had no answer for Morgan State’s offensive onslaught after they were able to break the press.

For the game, the Terps made only 1 of 14 shots from three-point range and had 21 turnovers.

Despite this lack of production, Maryland had a three-point lead at halftime and built a double-digit lead, going on a 16-2 run in the second half.

Still, Maryland had a tentative demeanor, appearing unsure when their half-court game had to bail them out of trouble.

It has been their calling card, to build momentum by causing the opposing team to lose patience, leading to easy transition baskets.

And this style of play has worked on inferior opponents.

It was not a matter of when it was going to happen, but who would be the team to smack the Terps back into reality?

Morgan State answered that question tonight.

Coach Williams went on to describe how he wants his players to remain on the attack and adjust to what the opposing team is setting up sooner, rather than when the game is in its waning moments.

“We didn’t run our offense properly once we got the lead in the second half,” said Williams.  “We settled for jump shots, and you know, when you shoot 1 for 14 from the three-point line, that’s a pretty good indication maybe you should be doing something else with the basketball.”

Morgan State called Maryland’s bluff and turned its back on the Maryland press by making long-distance shots.

Junior guard Reggie Holmes shot 5 for 11 from three-point range and finished with a game-high 25 points.

The Bears made 8 of 19 shots from three-point range for the game.

They also took advantage of Maryland’s inability to get on the boards.

Kevin Thompson, a 6'8" true freshman, finished with 10 points and 13 rebounds, mainly by camping out under the basket.  As the Terps settled for jump shot after jump shot, he either grabbed an offensive rebound or made a routine put-back off of a missed shot.

With 3.7 seconds remaining in the game, junior Maryland Guard Greivis Vasquez (19 points on 1 of 9 from three-point range) had a chance to lift Maryland’s hopes high heading into conference play.

His floater over the outstretched hands of a Morgan State defender bounced off the front of the rim.

The ball was rebounded yet again by Morgan State.

Vasquez got one more chance with a last second heave from beyond half court that went over the backboard.

Maryland’s most consistent defensive, post player Landon Milbourne (15 points), summed up the game’s storyline perfectly.

“They came up here fired up, we didn’t,” said Milbourne. “They hit some open threes.  They got to the basket, they got some rebounds, and the game went their way.  That’s what happens if you come out and play hard.  You usually get the win.  I think they played harder than us tonight.”

Notes

Maryland guard Greivis Vasquez went 5 of 21 from the field, scoring eight of his 19 points from the charity strip.

UMD will face only ACC opponents for the rest of the month of January.