Maryland men’s basketball is back in the win column. The Terps returned to Xfinity Center Tuesday night and took care of business in an 84-64 win over Alcorn State.
There were ups and downs, but Maryland is 2-1 with a Saturday road trip to Marquette next on the docket.
Here are three takeaways from the Terps’ win over Alcorn State.
A carousel of substitutions
Maryland had nine players record at least eight minutes. That rotation was kept on their toes by head coach Buzz Williams’ never-ending barrage of substitutions.
The Terps’
substituted 60 times against Alcorn State; that number was 46 against Georgetown and 39 against Coppin State. On more than a few occasions, players were subbed in for a single possession — including Isaiah Watts entering the game for the final 0.4 seconds of the first half and Elijah Saunders coming in for one possession to inbound a ball.
“We’re trying to make sure that we measure the same things in practice that we measure in the game,” Williams said. “We’re probably not at the point in week two where we’re allowed to give grace on, if you’re not meeting the standard of accountability … we need to make a sub.”
Alongside that was an increase in experimentation with lineup combinations. Nothing seemed off-limits for Williams, from a Pharrel Payne and four-guard lineup to one with Diggy Coit, Guillermo Del Pino and three forwards, but no Payne.
Del Pino, who started the first two games but averaged just 7.5 minutes per game, came off the bench. But he finally broke through, exhibiting a major uptick in confidence. The Spanish freshman went 3-of-4 for seven points after not attempting a shot in the first two games.
“This is his first couple months in the States. He’s made a lot of progress in just being comfortable in his space and in our space,” redshirt freshman guard Andre Mills said. “This is very new to him, the pace of play, who he’s playing. He’s never really seen this before. So I’m personally proud of Willie, of him growing as a person.”
A buy game against a team ranked No. 338 by KenPom is exactly the opportunity to experiment as Williams did. But it resulted in a bit more anxiety than fans would have liked — particularly in the latter part of the first half.
A nine-minute offensive catastrophe
Del Pino’s first basket of the game came with 8:59 left in the first half. That was the last time Maryland made a field goal until after halftime.
Spells of horrid shooting continue to haunt the Terps. They were 0-of-10 from the field and 0-of-6 from deep in the final eight minutes of the first half, adding five turnovers along the way. Maryland’s only points in that stretch came from Payne getting fouled — he was 6-of-6 from the line in that stretch.
“We probably played 25 minutes the way we want to play,” Williams said.
An inferior Alcorn State squad capitalized, mounting 10-0 and 7-2 runs en route to only trailing by six points at halftime.
Those stretches are nothing new for the Terps this year. What was different this time was they couldn’t supplement their bad shooting with free throws. Outside of Payne, Del Pino was the only player Maryland got to the line in those nine minutes; he missed both attempts.
Droughts have plagued Maryland in each of its three games, but this one was a new low. Myles Rice missed Tuesday’s contest, and his finishing ability will help. But it’s a concerning trend for the Terps nonetheless, and it’s one they’re running out of time to correct. They play Marquette, UNLV and No. 19 Gonzaga over the next two weeks and begin Big Ten play in less than a month.
Payne is a buy-game cheat code
The Terps’ shooting woes are cause for serious concern. But, at least against mid-major opponents, they’ve got an offensive trump card: center Pharrel Payne. Any team with below-average size doesn’t appear to have a chance at stopping the 6-foot-9, 255-pound senior.
Alcorn State paid aggressive attention to Payne — the big man frequently drew double and triple teams in the paint. It didn’t matter. Even multiple Braves didn’t have the physicality to match Payne, who made eight of his 10 field goal attempts and was far and away the most prominent rebounding presence.
“When we play basketball, I see him be this aggressive giant,” Mills said. “He has this little on and off switch, and it’s like feeding the beast … it’s easy points.”
The Braves’ only chance was to send Payne to the free-throw line, which they did frequently. But the big man continued his impressive efficiency from the stripe, going 6-of-8. Only Elijah Saunders had more than half as many free throw attempts.
The Terps would not have scored a single time in the final nine minutes of the first half if not for Payne’s ability to draw fouls. He accounted for all six of their points in that down stretch.
Payne finished with a team-high 22 points, also adding seven rebounds. But the one flaw to his game Tuesday was a newfound turnover bug. The senior gave the ball up four times, matching his combined total from the previous two games.
