Oriole4Life

Turgeon has this team believing, I think that is important. And they are motivated - which in my opinion is the number one job of any coach, to get the team mentally ready and giving full effort. People may not like the offensive sets at times, and that's fair, but I do think the criticism of him has been a little exaggerated. Now of course, if the Terps come out flat in March, we will be back to talking about how Turgeon can't draw an offensive play to save his life haha. From what I see there is definite flow to the offense and guy are playing together. When you hit shots everything looks better. And the defense has been absolutely stellar. All that helping, rotating, and boxing out - that comes from preaching it in practice.

That was domination by Maryland the second half. Total team effort. Could name every player.

This team is so much better when Ayala is hitting open threes (duh). Morsell is my favorite player. Mr. Energy. Plays with passion.

One thing you gotta credit Turgeon for - he has this team playing incredible defense this half and for the whole season really. They hustle and give full effort every play. We could be up even more, Scott had some nice drives, just couldn't finish. I love that dude's game.

This is the Jalen Smith I envisioned when he came to College Park. Look at that athleticism!

That's the Wiggins I like to see. Nice final two minutes of the half. I had to take a phone call, so I missed most of the first half. Looks like Cowan is being aggressive and making shots. He has really upped his game the last 5-6 games.

Horrible missed call by the refs. Obvious blocking foul.

My favorite stat, we were really good from the free throw line tonight. I don't know the exact number but we might have missed two total. Morsell, I love that guy. Spark plug we needed tonight.

Starting to make shots. That's all it takes. Maryland's defense has been excellent tonight.

Turnovers... That Stix dunk was monster. Made the free throw too.

Holy god....one of the sickest in game dunks you'll see all year by Morsell! Then Stix with the block leads to another fast break score! Jalen has been playing amazing defense this year.

Lots of time left. Started out shooting the 3 hot, then began settling and missing. Marial got beat on two plays, he isn't conditioned yet. A few turnovers, I don't like seeing guys drive straight into traffic and turning it over.

Things I took from this thread - Seeing the word "mesa" being used to describe a player's development. That was cool, I had never heard that before. Kinda makes sense. Some guy mentioned Josh Bell, and I got sad for a second, because I thought he was talking about the first baseman for the Pirates, and I thought "we let him get away?" Then I googled it and realized it was that scrub we got from the Dodgers. I saw Christian Walker's name mentioned, then I got a little sad, cuz he's a pretty good player. Only had one real good year though. He's no Jake Arrieta (still angry we traded him, I always saw tons of potential in him). I like Mullins by the way, he has tons of speed. I like him for that reason alone, always envisioned him as a great leadoff guy. I don't follow stats or player development nearly as close as you guys, I just figured he fell off...which he did. He's only 25 so I'd like to see him get some more chances. I also just realized that our outfielders are really bad Other than Mancini of course.

Bleh....thought you guys were talking about Jalen Smith for some reason. I saw the words NBA and assumed. Yeah Wiggins has taken a step back this year. He has the ability to slash but his strength is shooting.

I haven't looked at the stats, but isn't he shooting better from outside this year? Sure looks like it to me. Let me check - yes he is shooting 41.2% from 3 point land this year compared to 26.8% last year. His free throw percentage has also improved dramatically up to 76.4%. Overall field goal percentage too. He's just stepped his game up totally. I've noticed he has been more decisive when under the basket, less shots falling away from the hoop. He is trusting his strength. Next step is to work on his dribbling and driving ability as you mentioned. He indeed plays way better with a fire. I hope he can stay healthy and doesn't get burned out by late March. He is getting tons of minutes. Maryland's lack of depth when it comes to bigs may end up hurting them. I hope not. Like I said when they left, the Mitchell twins added lots of size. I don't trust Lindo, Marial, or Tomaic that much. Need them to guard and rebound, Smith is essentially doing all of that near the rim.

That was vintage Cowan. Probably the best I've seen him play the last couple of years. He drove the ball with such confidence, amazing footwork in the lane. Shot well. Just excellent. Made free throws! I love that. If we could shoot a little better and limit some turnovers this could be a top tier team. Jalen Smith's defense was tremendous tonight as well. Undefeated at home.

One thing to improve on - inbounding the ball when there is pressure.

Cowan directing the offense. Shot clock running down, he calls for a screen from Scott, breaks his defender and draws help, then finds Ayala for an open 3. Buckets. As bad as Wiggins is playing, he and Stix had a nice pick and roll. Wiggins made the great pass for a dunk. Look at this team running plays! Scott and Stix playing tough defense all night. Morsell too. Gotta close it out. No open threes for Iowa please.

Seriously. That missed free throw hurt too, Iowa went on a run after that. Cowan is balling.

Morsell is creating!

Cowan hit some big shots, breaking his defender. Defense clamped down those final 5 minutes.

Giving up too many offensive rebounds. Struggling to get the ball inside, even with two Iowa bigs on the bench in foul trouble. Stix sparks a run! I like when we push the ball, getting way better shots.

Need to get out on those 3s. Iowa is going to take a lot of them. Fairly even so far, Wiggins had a bad turnover and wide open missed 3.

I like the fired up Jalen Smith too. Watched the final few minutes again. Cowan came uo huge down the stretch. Had a monster 3, then came up with the deflection that led to a steal and Wiggins 3. Then a beautiful entry pass to Stix for the game winning score. Love seeing that. I got emotional seeing that win, particularly shortly hearing about Kobe. I'd like to think that win was for him, even if there is no relation.

Yeah I saw Turgeon run up and yell at him. Stix is typically humble, he's been taking smack to the crowd the last couple road games. But he's also been balling so I don't mind as a fan. Let him talk. Of course Turgeon has to restrain him as a coach.