A Pregame Breakdown: WVU vs Maryland

[WvuDieHard]

The competition gets a little tougher for WVU now that they enter the round of 32 in the NCAA tournament. Next up, the Maryland Terrapins of the Big 10. UMD finished 2nd in the Big 10 with a 14-4 conference record and now stand at 28-6. Maryland is led by two superb players in Melo Trimble (16.3 ppg.)and Dez Wells (15.3 ppg.). Both players are very good defenders and ball handlers who shoot 40.4 and 50.1% respectively behind the arc. Not a great rebounding team but they do well by committee with Laymen and Wells leading the way for the Terrapins. Maryland will turn the ball over but most of their offense is going to go thru the hands of Trimble and Wells.

Notables: Trimble has 105 assists on the season compared to Staton's 132 assists. Both players are the QB's for their teams. Best win: Wisconsin 59-53 Worst Loss: Illinois 57-64. Game Time: 8:50 Sunday night 3/22/2015. Announcers: Ian Eagle and Doug "I know everything" Gotlieb.

Analysis: This should be a fun game but a game WV must cut down on its mistakes to win. Controlling the boards will be a key component to leaving Columbus a winner. We must keep Wells and Layman off the glass. The most worrisome part of this game for me is Maryland's ability to knock down FT's as they make 75.7% of their FT's. If we get into fould trouble early, which we often do, we put a very good FT shooting team on the line early in the game and increase our odds of digging a hole for ourselves. Capitalizing on turnovers and getting points is must to offset WV's foul prone defense.

It's a great day to be a Mountaineer! What are your keys to winning the game? Man I don't know if I can take another WVU with Gotlieb announcing. This guy referees the game for the entire broadcast. So annoying.

 

[bbwvfan]

Being Captain Obvious here… the key will be Maryland's ability to handle WVU's full court pressure…. with but one day to prepare.

Buffalo was averaging 11 TO's a game heading into yesterday's contest…. they had that many by half.

This is a good match up for WVU. WVU matches up well with Maryland. LOL!!

Maryland has two players with size… Dodd and Smotrycz. They play small ball. WVU can do that pretty well…

WVU is used to playing games this close together. They will fall on a normal routine. Holton needs to be given a beta blocker before the Maryland game. He has to keep his head in the game… stop making so many stupid fouls… so he can contribute. WVU will need more minutes from him to improve their chances of winning.

 

[WvuDieHard]

Agreed BB--they do match up well with Maryland. It will be interesting how Maryland attacks the press. Will they pull their bigs to the middle of the floor on the press like ISU or Baylor? Or will they be content with Melo and Dez working it up the floor? Once you get that ball in the middle of the press, you usually have numbers on the other end because you will have 3 WV players deep on the in bound line. The good news here is that Maryland averages 11.8 turnovers per game. I think we will need at least 15 from the Terps to win due to their ability to shoot free throws and with their 3 point shooting percentage at 39%. Vegas opened the game at pick 'em with Maryland now a slight 1 point favorite. I expect a barn burner down to the last possession.