Turgeon is responsible, too, for Terps’ rebounding woes
Blaming players not enough after Purdue beat them on boards
COLLEGE PARK — During Maryland men’s basketball coach Mark Turgeon’s first two years with the Terps, his postgame news conferences were often more unpredictable and exciting than the games themselves.
Turgeon had a difficult time containing his frustration and softening his criticism of himself, his team and individual players in particular, especially guard Terrell Stoglin.
As Stoglin and others were weeded out (or weeded themselves out, as was the case with Seth Allen, Charles Mitchell and Nick Faust) and the Terps became a Top 25 program, then a top-10 program, Turgeon’s pressers became lovefests.
He loved his team. He loved his players.
Turgeon still loves his teams and his players in most regards, just not the way they rebound.
After Saturday’s 83-79 loss at then-No. 20 Purdue, Turgeon’s frustration boiled to the surface when his team’s abysmal rebounding was raised.
Sounding like the parent of a teenager who can’t keep his room neat, Turgeon spoke as if he had stopped trying to correct what has been a season-long problem after the Terps had been crushed on the boards by the Boilermakers 41-22.
Against the Big Ten’s biggest and brawniest team, a squad the Terps had stayed even with on the boards in an 11-point win in College Park three weeks before, Maryland pulled down its fewest rebounds this season.
“They’ve got to fix it,” Turgeon said. “I can only do so much. You can talk about it. You can work on it. You’ve got to fix it. ... They’ve got to want to do it.”
It’s one of the few times that Turgeon should have, as he often does, taken complete ownership of the problem. And it was one of the few times he should have shared in the blame.
Here’s why: When Maryland’s lackadaisical rebounding surfaced early in the season — against the likes of Saint Francis (Pa.), which had 18 offensive rebounds, and Marshall, which grabbed 15 — it was a perfect chance to see whether there were players who were a little hungrier to hit the boards than those who were getting the bulk of the frontcourt minutes.
The problem resurfaced in the Big Ten season against Michigan State (17 offensive rebounds), Nebraska (16), Minnesota (11, including a huge one at the end of the game) and twice against Northwestern (13 and 16). Opponents have gobbled up 148 offensive rebounds in Maryland’s past 11 Big Ten games.
Compounding the problem is that the Terps are not that good at getting offensive rebounds, with their nine per game putting them ahead of only Michigan and Illinois. Overall, Maryland ranks in the middle of the pack in rebounding despite having the tallest and deepest frontcourt in the Big Ten.
The Boilermakers grabbed the game’s first seven rebounds, and12 of the first 13 Saturday.
At one point, sophomore point guard Melo Trimble had two rebounds and Maryland’s four big men had combined for three. (After two strong games, junior center Damonte Dodd picked up two quick fouls coming in for Diamond Stone, and wound up with zero points and zero rebounds in three minutes on the court.)
Rebounding is said to be about effort as much as athleticism, but when you don’t box out — a fundamental taught at every level of basketball — you have no chance.
The Terps seemingly give up offensive rebounds in close games at the worst possible times. One came when Rasheed Sulaimon didn’t box out Rapheal Davis after the Purdue guard bounced a free throw off the front rim.
It’s something that players need to recognize, but it’s also something that Turgeon needs to reinforce on a daily basis.
Asked Wednesday whether the team has spent a lot of time on its rebounding this week in practice, Turgeon smiled.
“What do you think?” he asked. “It’s an everyday deal for me.”
The Terps have a practice drill in which student managers place hard plastic bubble covers on top of the basket to work on rebounding. Those covers shouldn’t come off until the Terps can get the number of offensive rebounds by opponents down to single digits on a regular basis.
“The bubbles are on the baskets,” Turgeon said Wednesday. “Not a lot have gone through for the second team.”
While a coach voicing frustrations at a postgame news conference certainly is welcomed by reporters, Turgeon needs to take ownership of all his team’s deficiencies, regardless of how much he has tried to correct them. It shouldn’t simply be left to the players to make this untidy bed when they see fit.