Maryland Basketball: Terrapins' Keys to a Strong Regular-Season Finish

Even with a great deal of success to this point, Maryland can still improve as it heads toward the home stretch of the season.

After a 64-58 win over Penn State, the Terrapins are 19-4 on the season and tied for second place in the Big Ten at 7-3. Even the biggest optimists in College Park have to be surprised by this result after the program's recent struggles.

Still, more success leads to higher expectations. Getting a bid to the NCAA tournament for the first time under Mark Turgeon would be great, but now fans want to see a deep run in March as well. Based on the recent play, there needs to be a few more improvements before this will be possible.

In order for Maryland to end the year on a high note, it will need to follow these keys to success.

Increase Defensive Focus

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There have been a lot of problems with the defense over the past few weeks, especially in recent losses to Ohio State and Indiana, with both teams reaching 80 points.

However, a lot of this all comes down to one thing: focus. 

Even Jake Layman admitted as much before the recent battle against Penn State. The junior explained the recent problems to Don Markus of The Baltimore Sun, saying, "I think it was just laziness on some possessions, if one guy is lazy it breaks the whole defense down."

The on-ball defense on the perimeter has been poor with opponents easily driving into the lane. To make matters worse, sloppy rotations have left open shooters all over the court.

There is enough length and athleticism on this team to create a quality defense every single game. However, the lack of consistency comes down to a lack of focus, something that must change going forward.

Finish Inside Offensively

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While the defensive issues have been apparent, the bigger problems come on the offensive end.

According to KenPom.com, Maryland ranks 10th in the Big Ten in offensive efficiency in conference play after being one of the better teams in the nation over the first two months of the season. A major issue is the inability to score inside, ranking dead last in the conference with a 41 percent mark from two-point range.

Whether it is the physicality of the Big Ten that is causing problems or simply poor work around the net, this needs to be solved in order for Maryland to have any success.

One problem that stands out is a lack of true post scorers. Damonte Dodd has gone through an extended slump since the start of conference play, while Michal Cekovsky didn't even play in the past game.

Jon Graham came through with an outstanding performance against his former team, scoring 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting in the win over Penn State. However, it's hard to expect this type of effort every time from the undersized forward.

No matter who has the ball, though, the Terps have to get the ball in the basket when they are in close.

Better Ball Movement

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The poor inside shooting and the inconsistent outside shooting come back to the inability of this offense to create open looks.

While there was a good flow on that end of the court in the beginning of the year, the group has become too stagnant recently. There are players capable of creating their own shots off the dribble, but the Terps currently rank 257th in the nation in assists per made basket and 209th in assist-to-turnover ratio, per TeamRankings.com.

Easier shots come from better ball movement and passing to the open man. 

Melo Trimble had a career-high eight assists against Penn State, but the rest of the team only had one more all game. This was the second game in a row the squad failed to reach double-digit assists.

The best offenses in the nation are ones who can work as a team and move the ball around to find the open man. Maryland has to start doing this more frequently if it wants to get back to scoring at a high rate.

Get Melo Trimble Back on Track

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Melo Trimble was outstanding in the come-from-behind win over Northwestern, scoring 27 points as the Terps made up an 11-point deficit in the final four minutes.

Unfortunately, he has gone silent as a scorer since that point, going 0-of-13 from the field in the past two games. He scored seven points on free throws in this time, but that's not going to be enough to help Maryland.

The fact this team can pull off even one win with the leading scorer failing to get a field goal for two games is almost a miracle.

As previously mentioned, Trimble did take on more of a distributing role in Wednesday's victory, but the Terps have come to expect the freshman to handle a large part of the scoring in this offense. They need his outside shooting combined with the ability to drive inside and finish at the rim.

It might not be time to hit the panic button just yet, as Trimble spent the last two games being guarded by bigger defenders, and that might've prevented his usual level of success. However, the point guard better figure things out in a hurry if he wants to help his team win in the future.

Be More Prepared on the Road

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Winning a conference road game isn't easy for anyone. However, Maryland got off to an excellent start this year thanks to wins over Oklahoma State and Michigan State away from home, as well as neutral-court victories over Iowa State and Arizona State.

For such a young team with so many new players, this was a great sign for the season.

Things haven't been quite as smooth lately, however, with the Terrapins losing three of their last four road games. The next game won't be a piece of cake either, as they travel to Iowa.

Although it seems like it gets easier with road games against Penn State, Rutgers and Nebraska to close the year, wins are far from guaranteed. Maryland will have to come in with a much better intensity and focus in these matchups than it has had in the recent losses.

Great teams find ways to win away from home. If this squad is going to reach this level, it will need to find a bit more consistency in road games.

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