Maryland Terrapins Vs. Wake Forest: What Did We Learn?

While a victory over the Wake Forest Demon Deacons (8-14, 1-6 ACC) won’t do much for the Maryland Terrapins’ NCAA Tournament aspirations, there was plenty to learn from the Terps’ 91-70 home win over the Deacs.

Pe’Shon Howard and Terrell Stoglin could be as good as Greivis Vasquez and Eric Hayes

Vasquez/Hayes (2006-07): 14.6 PPG, 8.5 APG, 5.2 RPG

Howard/Stoglin (2010-11): 13.4 PPG, 5.5, 3.0 RPG

Offensively, Hayes and Vasquez are better than Stoglin and Howard, especially at creating for teammates, but defensively, the advantage goes to Stoglin and Howard.

Because of their lack of quickness, Hayes and Vasquez had trouble staying in front of their man. Howard and Stoglin are both very quick which makes it tough for opposing guards to penetrate into the teeth of the Maryland defense.

In the future, I see Howard doing the majority of the ball handling and Stoglin playing at shooting guard and maybe even coming off the bench as Hayes did as a junior.

Against Wake, Howard notched eight assists to go along with his nine points and may have won the starting point guard job for the remainder of the season.

Haukur Palsson brings a lot to the table

If Soglin and Howard are the Vasquez and Hayes of the 2010 freshman class, then Palsson is the Landon Milbourne.

Like Milbourne, “Hawk” has great touch from mid-range and can step out and knock down the three. On defense, he is a menace in the press, can guard multiple positions and hustles every play.

Against Wake, Palsson showed the versatility in his game on both ends of the court: He knocked down a three, banked in a nice hook shot from about seven feet out, hit two mid-range jumpers, took a charge and forced two turnovers in the press.

Maryland’s interior defense must get better

The strength of the 2010-11 Maryland Terrapins has been the defense. Kenpom.com has the Terps as the fifth best defense in the country.

A lot of that success is based on the play Maryland is getting from its wing defenders. Sean Mosley wreaks havoc on opposing offenses, Cliff Tucker may be the team’s best on-ball defender because of his length and athleticism, and Bowie, Stoglin and Howard’s quickness causes a lot of problems for opposing back courts.

Maryland gets into trouble defensively when the ball goes down low.

Jordan Williams is limited athletically and lacks both vertical and lateral quickness which is vital when defending the post. Dino Gregory is a little undersized and takes too many chances going for blocks, which puts him out of rebounding position time and again.

Against teams with quality big-men, Maryland’s defensive deficiencies get them into trouble.

Against Wake, this was not a problem, but with key games against Virginia Tech and Florida State coming up in the next couple of weeks, Maryland will have to find a solution and fast.

The win over Wake Forest was Maryland’s fourth in their last five games. Up next for the Terps (15-8, 5-4 ACC) is a non-conference tilt with Longwood on Wednesday night followed by trips to Boston College and Virginia Tech.