Win over Hofstra anything but easy
Smaller lineup kept Wahab out of game during 2nd half
No. 20 Maryland men’s basketball narrowly escaped with a 69-67 win over Hofstra on Friday night.
From 3-point shooting struggles to junior forward Qudus Wahab not playing in the second half, here are three takeaways from a wild finish at Xfinity Center.
Hofstra’s small lineup knocked Qudus Wahab out of the game: For a moment Wahab looked as if he was going to have a big game. The Georgetown transfer recorded six points and six rebounds during the early stages of the first half. Suddenly, the game sped up, and Hofstra ran a smaller lineup that outmatched Wahab’s abilities.
Maryland coach Mark Turgeon made the call to keep Wahab on the bench for the entire second half while he went with a smaller lineup to counter Hofstra’s guardheavy approach. Turgeon relied heavily on freshman Julian Reese (St. Frances) in the second half, as he was able to guard the Pride better.
When the Terps get into Big Ten Conference play, Wahab is expected to be a major factor when facing some of the league’s premier big men. On Friday night, he had to take a backseat for Maryland to win.
“I told [Wahab] at halftime ‘This might not feel right but, I’m going small,’ ” Turgeon said. “I said we got a lot of Big Ten games coming up. They’re going to have big 7-footers out there that can’t shoot [and] you’re going to play. [Wahab] is still our starting center and a big part of our team.”
Maryland’s 3-point shooting struggles continued:
Through five games, Maryland’s 3-point shooting has been a glaring issue. The Terps are shooting 25.4% from deep, and in the win over Hofstra, they went 5-for-22 from behind the arc.
Junior forward Donta Scott, who shot 43.8% from the 3-point line last season, is shooting 26.3% from deep this season. Senior guard Eric Ayala is 7-for-21 from 3-point range over the past two games.
Meanwhile, junior guard Hakim Hart made his first two 3-point attempts Friday night after starting the season 0-for-7.
“We have shooters,” graduate transfer point guard Fatts Russell said. “I’m confident that we’re going to start making shots. We just got to take the right ones and take them confidently.”
It’s truly hard to get a good read on what the Terps will look like moving forward. Maryland opened the season 18th in KenPom’s efficiency rankings, but has since dropped to 43rd.
The start of the season has been against opponents the Terps should be able to handle pretty soundly. Yet, Maryland lost to George Mason and barely escaped with a victory over Hofstra, which lost to Iona by eight points three days earlier.
With nine new players, Maryland is a work-in-progress, and that’s understandable. But the Terps’ offensive inconsistencies have prevented them from distancing themselves from their opponents, which has led to these tight finishes.
Players like Reese and transfer guard Ian Martinez have flashed their abilities to be contributors off the bench. Russell has proven capable of being the primary ball-handler, while Ayala can be reliable down the stretch.
However, the Terps have yet to put it all together and play like the team many people expected it to be.
It’s hard to get a read on these Terps: