UMD Slumps at Iowa 67-49
A Horrendous Start to The Terps Road Tour
Zachary Wilson
While crazy shooting was the reason behind the Terps previous win against Ohio State, tonight this would prove to be Maryand’s downfall against the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Maryland allowed Iowa guard Joe Wieskamp to explode on the offensive end, finishing with 26 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 steals. As for their inside game, Hawkeye forward Luka Garza heated up as the match wore on to end on 21 points, owning his matchups against Jalen Smith and Donta Scott.
At one point, Garza and Weiskamp had 31 of Iowa’s first 35 points.
As Iowa piled on score after score after score, the Terps were not even close to being able to handle business on their end. Three-point shooting, which was beyond stellar against Ohio State, went all the way back down to 18.2% (4-22). This, alongside a hapless 32.7% (17-52) total shooting percentage lead to a horrendous offensive performance. Moreover, the Terrapins couldn’t even take advantage of foul shots, going 11-20 from the line in total.
Despite Turgeon going with smaller lineups as of late, it still felt as though no one was capable of finding consistent scoring throughout the affair. It’s strange because typically I am surprised by Maryland’s ability to work around and through zone defense but tonight Iowa held the Terps in check. Maryland had a 15-10 lead and then Iowa cashed in on a lengthy 19-2 scoring run in the final minutes of the first half, Iowa would maintain a healthy lead through the second half to take a home win by nearly 20.
With this loss in the rear-view mirror, the Terrapins travel to Wisconsin for a game against the 9-6 Badgers.
Notable Statlines, The Good and The Not So Good:
The Good:
Jalen Smith-While not one of his best performances, Smith still showed up and played his role adequately. Leading the team with 13 points on 5-7 shooting, Smith still kept his steady offense despite the chaos around him. He was, sadly, outplayed by Wisconsin big man Luka Garza, and Smith left a lot to be desired on the defensive end.
The Not So Good:
Anthony Cowan-As the senior leader and scorer of the team, Cowan was extremely ineffective tonight. With 20% total shooting and 3-7 free throw shooting he was not even close to comfortable offensively as he needs to be. He would also add 4 more turnovers to his mediocre shooting. Cowan will need a significant performance against Wisconsin if he wishes to shake of this abysmal shooting night.
Eric Ayala-Ayala has continued to worsen his worrying slump with another pedestrian shoot around. In 27 minutes he could only manage 2 points, both of which came from free throws. To shoot 0-6 as a shooting guard is just completely unacceptable, especially for a player whose role is to come off the bench and score in bursts to keep the offense juiced. He would commit the most turnovers of any Terp tonight with 4.
Aaron Wiggins-Finishing off the Not So Good, which feels like a guard of shame list, is Aaron Wiggins. His role has been cemented as a second guard to Cowan and yet in his starting performance he could only play 17 minutes and not score a single point. Couple this with 3 more turnovers and it is clear to see that none of the three main guards of this lineup could perform to their expectations.
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