We are a week into Maryland’s most anticipated season since the early 2000s and as of this post, the Terps are 3-0 and will remain the third-ranked team in the nation when the AP Poll comes out on Monday. But with three contests under their belt, their defense — typically a strength for any Mark Turgeon-coached team — has emerged as a vulnerability. On Friday night, Rider (0-3) came into the Xfinity Center, ripped the Terps interior offense to shreds, and almost completed the upset; Maryland pulled out a 65-58 win in the final five minutes. If the Big Ten favorites can’t get back to playing stellar defense like they did a year ago, their season will fail to meet all the hyped expectations.
Last season, Maryland was Top 40 in defensive efficiency allowing only an adjusted 95.1 points per 100 possessions. The Terps accomplished this by putting pressure on shooters which kept their opponents to 31.9 percent shooting from the three-point line and limiting easy buckets in the paint–under 30 percent of their opponents’ shots came at the rim. But this has not been the case this season. The Maryland newcomers — Rasheed Sulaimon and Diamond Stone — have been a boost offensively, but have struggled to fully adapt to Turgeon’s defensive philosophy. On Tuesday, the Terrapins nearly lost to Georgetown because they allowed the Hoyas to get off good shots (61.2 eFG%) which led to an offensive rating of 111. Three days later against Rider, Maryland got torched off the dribble as the Broncs hit 20 of their 36 2-point field goals–an overwhelming majority of which were at the rim. It should alarm the Maryland coaching staff that a team from the MAAC exposed their interior defense in such easy fashion.
Against Rider, there seemed to be some miscommunication between the guards, especially Sulaimon, when switching on screens. These hesitations on the exchanges gave the attacking Rider guards enough space to slip to the bucket and either finish or dish it off to the open forward if the help defense came. That help defense, in the form of Stone or another of their bigs, was typically slow to react. The defensive woes could also be an issue of effort, as we saw on Friday, the Terps’ defensive performance improved in the second half when the possibility of an upset became more realistic. With 15 minutes left in the game, Maryland clamped down on defense and only allowed 5 points in the next 10-minute span. Turgeon needs to investigate the pathology of their defensive issues and resolve it immediately. The Cancun Challenge field provides a soft schedule for Maryland, so the 50-year old coach would be wise to remedy the situation against this less formidable talent, otherwise they may be in real trouble heading into the Dean Center to play North Carolina on December 1.