Maryland at Illinois

[Oriole4Life]

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.

[Hallas]

I have a new theory about why Maryland starts off slow:  because they're always positive on foul shots, and they don't foul as much in general as opposing teams, they start recovering points toward the end of the half, when players need to be benched for foul trouble, and when they hit the bonus.

[Oriole4Life]

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

[Oriole4Life]

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.

[Oriole4Life]

This team is so much better when Ayala is hitting open threes (duh).

Morsell is my favorite player. Mr. Energy. Plays with passion.

[Tony-OH]

Just turned on the game and Ayala steals the ball then loses it.. Poor guy can't ever anything well when I'm watching! haha

[Tony-OH]

Weak ass foul call there!

[Oriole4Life]

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

[Tony-OH]

Nice win. Terps on a roll. Gotta give Turgeon some credit (yes I said that) for making some adjustments at half defensively.

[Hallas]

Just now, Tony-OH said:

Nice win. Terps on a roll. Gotta give Turgeon some credit (yes I said that) for making some adjustments at half defensively.

He made the adjustments with about 9 minutes left in the first half.  Illinois torched us for like 29 points in the first 10 minutes.

[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.

Edited February 8, 2020 by Oriole4Life