Terps post best start in 18 years
After Rutgers cut Maryland's nine-point lead to three early in the second half, the Terps found the open man, continued to clamp down on high-scoring Rutgers guard Corey Sanders and distanced themselves from the Scarlet Knights. A 16-3 run helped Maryland break open the game en route to a 67-55 victory.
Finishing the first half with an 8-2 spurt to take a 34-29 lead as well as scoring the first two times they had the ball in the second half helped the Terps build as much as a 17-point lead with 9:20 remaining.
“It definitely was big,” freshman Kevin Huerter said. “We always talk about that in the huddles. …Those are kind of stretches that we always look forward to if we want to win the game. That was good, going into the half on the run we did, and we came out in the second half and played pretty well, too.”
Junior guard Melo Trimble, whose status for the game was uncertain after he sat out practice Monday with an illness, led Maryland (18-2, 6-1) with 17 points. Huerter finished with 11 points, along with team highs of eight rebounds and six assists.
“I'm trying to get the ball in his hands more,” coach Mark Turgeon said of Huerter. “It's hard because Melo needs it, Anthony [Cowan] needs it. We ran a couple of plays that got the ball in his hands and he made good decisions. He's good. He can see over people. He was sharp today and he's got great vision.”
The victory, the fifth straight for the Terps since their collapse in the second half of a loss to Nebraska on New Year's Day, pushed Maryland to its best start since the 1998-99 season, when the Terps began the season 19-2. Last year's team started 17-2.
“I don't think any of us expected this,” Turgeon said. “To be 18-2 and 6-1 — didn't expect it. You've got to win a lot of close games, which we did. The exciting thing for me is we can get so much better. We can play better than we're playing, starting with rebounding and taking care of the ball.”
After tying their season high with 21 turnovers in Thursday night's win at Iowa, the Terps committed 18 against Rutgers. They also surrendered 22 offensive rebounds to the Scarlet Knights, who, fortunately for Maryland, didn't finish around the basket and missed 14 of their 24 free throws.
“I wish we had made a few more of those shots,” first-year Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell said.
Maryland's defense on Sanders also made a difference. Sanders, who scored 25 points and the game-winner in Saturday's victory over Nebraska, scored just two of his team-high 15 points after halftime and finished 5-for-19 from the field. Huerter played a role there, as well.
After Sanders had used his speed to get by Maryland's guards, Turgeon put the 6-7 Huerter on the 6-2 Sanders at the end of the first half. The Terps did a better job coming out on ball screens in the second half, and Sanders didn't score until 11:09 remained. The Terps led 54-40 at that point.
“He is so fast,” Turgeon said of Sanders. “They put in a new play and we never really adjusted to it until the very end. That got him going. We had some ball-screen things that we were late on. I thought our ball-screen defense was better in the second half, and I thought our team defense was better in the second half.”
What also helped is that Trimble, who came out of a shooting slump in the win in Iowa City, hit his first shot of the game, a 3-pointer, to show he was ready to play after falling ill over the weekend. Trimble finished the game 5-of-8 from the field, including 3-of-5 on 3-pointers.
“He's shooting the ball better, which is great to see,” Turgeon said. “I thought his defense was pretty darn good, too, out there. I was worried about him; I didn't know what we were going to get out of him. Yesterday he looked so bad, and today he looked so much better. Maybe the extra day off helped his legs.”
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