Friday morning was déjà vu for Maryland women’s basketball fans — a game day started with the news that they would be without one of their best guards for the rest of the season.
Ahead of the team’s game against Minnesota on Dec. 7, it was Kaylene Smikle. This time, it was Bri McDaniel.
Again, though, the team was able to push that aside and dominate a program ranked at the bottom of Division I women’s basketball. Maryland won, 98-30, over Central Connecticut State to secure a perfect 13-0 record heading
into Big Ten play.
Here are three takeaways from the game.
Field trip day madness
The Xfinity Center was home to over 13,000 children from local schools for the annual celebration of Field Trip Day. Frese has long touted the celebration as one of her favorite games of the season. Her own twin sons Markus and Tyler grew up attending the game.
“It’s really one of our favorite days and games that we get to play,” Frese said. “To be able to show these kids the dream that all of our players have had, it gives them a goal.”
The dream was great, but the students’ main focus of the day was on two numbers: six and seven. Thanks to a viral song by a rapper named Skrilla called “Doot Doot (6 7)” that caught fire on social media, kids around the nation have been celebrating like maniacs when teams hit 67 points at Field Trip Day games.
Frese and Maryland leaned into the meme. She walked out sporting a Maryland No. 67 jersey — her husband’s idea — and operations staff constantly played clips related to the number on the video board. When the team got to 64 points, the players knew they had to chuck up 3-pointers until one dropped. Eventually, Yarden Garzon crossed over, stepped back and drained a three.
“That’s probably the best shot of my career,” Garzon said with a laugh post game. “I missed the first one, it took a little time, but I’m glad I was able to do it.”
Beyond that, the energy of 13,000 screaming children fueled Maryland to an offensive onslaught. Garzon hit seven 3-pointers and Oluchi Okananwa scored 22 points, with the kids frantically celebrating each basket like it was a game-winner in the NCAA Tournament.
The new normal
Without McDaniel, Smikle and Lea Bartelme, Maryland is down three of its potential lead guards in their offense.
That means Okananwa and Addi Mack will be relied upon heavily, with Kyndal Walker and Rainey Welson likely coming off the bench — although Welson missed Saturday’s game with a short-term lower leg injury.
Okananwa is the only remaining guard with prior college experience, having played two years at Duke.
“Those young guards most definitely do not play young,” Okananwa said. “I think it’s just continuing to do what my team needs. For me, I don’t need to do anything more [because of the injuries].”
Mack has been an instant star since arriving on campus and kept her momentum, scoring 15 points in her eighth double-digit scoring outing of the season.
Meanwhile, Walker has been slowly climbing into the form she had as a local high school standout at St. John’s. She led the team in minutes and boasted a great assist-to-turnover ratio with six assists and one giveaway.
Frese emphasized how much more they’ll rely on veterans like Garzon and Okananwa given their current state of health.
“They’re high level athletes that were brought here to do exactly that,” Frese said on their 47-point combined outing. “They’re going to have to take on more of that load. They want that, they get that, they understand that.”
The team should also get another key veteran leader, Saylor Poffenbarger, back for conference play. She remained out with a “planned rest period” against Central Connecticut State.
Maryland completes a perfect nonconference run
Maryland dominated its nonconference slate, going a perfect 12-0. Including its narrow escape against Minnesota in the Big Ten opener, it is 13-0 overall.
The closest game they played against a nonconference opponent was an eight-point victory over No. 12 Kentucky, who made the game closer with a late run. Aside from the Wildcats and No. 25 Princeton, Maryland played a few more games where it was a larger favorite than usual.
Around finals season, Frese intentionally gave her team a long period of rest as well as its two easiest games on the schedule by opponent NET rankings. It was the first time Maryland has run the table against its nonconference opponents since 2018-19.
While the success puts the Terps in a great position heading into their two months of conference play, Frese knows things can change quickly in the Big Ten.
“The staff has done a phenomenal job working hard through film and practice just to get every player to buy into their role, [the injuries] put a small margin of error for us,” Frese said. “We have to continue to keep everyone else healthy and use this to get everyone rested, and hopefully we’re at full strength when we come back to conference play.”
The Terps’ home conference opener will be against Wisconsin, a team that recently picked up its biggest win of the season over No. 24 Michigan State.
