Never one to sugarcoat his team’s flaws, Maryland coach Kevin Willard had a blunt explanation about his recent emphasis on offensive rebounding.
“We’re struggling so bad shooting the basketball that it’s got to be part of our offense a little bit, secondary offense off missed shots,” Willard said.
On Tuesday night, when Maryland (5-4) takes on visiting Alcorn State (1-8), the Terrapins will try to improve their marksmanship. If that doesn’t work, they’ll move to Plan B.
On Wednesday, that formula allowed Maryland to edge Penn State in overtime, 81-75.
The Terrapins made just 34.3 percent of their shots from the floor and 5 of 25 (20 percent) from 3-point range. But they won thanks to their domination of the boards, 53-31.
Carrying a heavy load were Jahmir Young with 28 points and eight rebounds and Julian Reese with 24 points and 15 boards.
“That’s really just effort, just attacking the glass hard and just wanting them more than your opponent,” said Reese.
As this week began, Maryland was the second-worst 3-point shooting team in the nation, ranked No. 360 at 22.4 percent. Starters DeShawn Harris-Smith and Jordan Geronimo are a combined 3 of 35 from deep.
Alcorn State, the two-time defending regular season champion of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, arrives having lost seven straight, all on the road. Such is life for the Braves who don’t play at home until Jan. 20.
Alcorn State is coming off an 86-58 loss Sunday at VCU, where it never had the lead. The team’s top scorer and rebounder, Jeremiah Kendall, led the Braves with 17 points and seven boards. Byron Joshua added 13 points.
The Braves had an 11-point run late in the first half, reducing a 14-point deficit to 28-25 before the hot-shooting Rams ran away in the second half.
Maryland will be a major challenge. In Alcorn State’s four games this year against power conference schools, it led only in the opening few minutes at Michigan State on Nov. 19.
“We have to have better starts,” Braves coach Landon Bussie said. “We have to convert.”
–Field Level Media