I had a chance to talk with Coach Wednesday night at St Frances. Turgeon was confident–he said he felt some really great things about this squad. That being said, I never would have believed that the Terps could put 94 on the board without Nick.
My real worries were the slow offensive starts. Jake Layman took care of that today with 18 in the first half mainly on 4 three point shots. Where has this bben –can he play at this level? Looking forward to FSU game.
21 NBA scouts were in attendance — to watch Alex Len. Alex contributed his usual 6-12 shooting with 9 bounds and countless altered shots in 24 minutes.
Seth Allen seems to be the diamond in the rough 8-12 with 3 threes and a smooth overall game.
Want to sell out Comcast? Just play more Saturday games.
Early on Charles Mitchell was a force. Lets just say he is immovable. 8 points 5 rebounds
I am worried about Nick. We have to be realistic –Jake can’t play like this every game.
Turgeon commented Post Game:
Head Coach Mark Turgeon
Opening Statement:
“I was pleased with us today. I was greatly pleased with the crowd. The crowd was great from the opening tip until the end. It makes a huge difference; that’s why I came to Maryland. If we got it going the fans would be there for us. I am really proud of my team. We weren’t great the whole game obviously, but we were good enough. We shared the ball again, guarded pretty good; we just didn’t rebound. That was the biggest negative, we didn’t rebound. A lot of that was just their penetration kept breaking us down. It’s hard to rebound when penetration breaks you down. That [Erick] Green is really good, and tough to guard. I thought we did a great job on [Jarell] Eddie and [Robert] Brown, but the ball screen defense hurt us. But that kid is special.”
On the freshmen:
“They are all ready. I keep telling you that they weren’t ready. In practice, I was waiting for them to get ready and they weren’t. Seth [Allen] was probably the farthest along; Charles [Mitchell] got a little out of shape; and then Shaq [Cleare] has been practicing hard. They are all ready. I was really happy. It worked perfectly; we threw it inside-out and he [Jake Layman] hits the first shot and then he got a couple of tip ins. He was much better defensively. They are big time players, and all of our new guys played well.
“It is amazing. We thought Nick [Faust] was going to be healthy. In practice yesterday we thought he was going to be able to play and he couldn’t. His back cramped up on him. We did that game without Nick, and Dez [Wells] was in foul trouble. That is comforting to know that we can do that. I know it was a home game, but Logan [Aronhalt] hit a big shot for us and our execution was pretty good. I was disappointed in our press offense, but that was my fault, and I will get them more prepared next time.”
On Jake Layman’s slump heading into the game:
“I think Jake was struggling because he had such high expectations. Because he made that Under-18 US team it put even more expectations on him. I wasn’t concerned because he was practicing hard every day. He went home for Christmas and regrouped–he has a great family. We believe in him, and I started coaching him differently; he doesn’t need to be screamed and yelled at, he just needs to be coached. Today was a huge day for him.”
If you listened to my shows this morning you know I had to watch the game because I was down with flu. 80 texts throughout the game kept me busy but I don’t understand why I had to pay $7.99 to watch it. But it was well worth it.
When all is said and it’s Maryland’s depth that might take them places this year. When you look at the bench today of Seth, Shaq, Padge, Logan, and Nick it’s no wonder this team is 13-1. Okay I’ll calm down. It’s just after being home for 2 days and knowing I am going to miss Ray’s last dance, I need a boost.
Mricklen
Jake’s Dad came down from Mass. As well as his Grandmotger and Aunts from Bel Air.
They were ecstatic obviously.
But the part of Turgeon not seen, is that he called and had several talks with Jake’s parents, about the situation for Jake adjusting to being away from home, and on the big campus.
He rooms with Dez and Mitchell which helps.
We all hope this is the turnaround and confidence builder he needed.
Very exiting season ahead for these Baby Terps.
· 11/12/2019