Tobacco Road Report

By Michael

Maryland and Clemson had two similar opportunities last night. Both are teams that prefer to create up-tempo games, both were on the road against supposedly lesser opponents, and both needed these games to solidify their standing with the NCAA Tournament selection committee. Maryland was able to impose its will against NC State, winning 85-70, while Clemson fell victim to Wake Forest 67-65 in a slow-paced second half. The Turtles (19-7, 5-6) are back in the mix while the Tigers (19-6, 5-6) are restless.

Clemson v. Wake Forest. Clemson had things their way in the first half against Wake. Their full court pressure defense was able to put Ishmael Smith in some uncomfortable situations and exposed Wake's lack of open-court finishers offensively. With 4:40 to play in the first half, Wake had already committed 9 turnovers and Clemson looked in position to control the game. However, Wake then began an 11-0 run to take the lead at 36-33, and the two teams went into halftime tied at 37 apiece.

In the second half, Wake played a lot of match-up 2-3 zone and used this defense to effectively slow the pace of play. As we've noted in several posts about Clemson already, the Tigers do not execute their halfcourt offenses or defenses very well. Facing the zone, the offense became stagnant and settled for far too many three point attempts. Hamilton and Hammonds launched 16 between them and the Tigers finished the game 5-26 from beyond the arc.

In contrast, the slowed pace of play brought Visser back into the equation. Wake continued to go to the big man in the second half, and Visser responded with multiple trips to the free throw line. He finished with 21 points and 9-13 from the line. Wake's emphasis on going inside to force the action won the day, as their 24 free throw attempts to Clemson's 12 slowly brought the Demon Deacons back into it.

In a nutshell
...Tempo: 74 combined points in the first half, only 62 in the second.
...Clemson: 5-26 from three, 60 shots to Wake's 53.
...Wake: 24 FTA to Clemson's 12.
...oh, and one hugely important missed box-out with 1 second remaining. Look at the tape, that was just pathetic.

Maryland v. NC State. In contrast to Clemson's second half missteps, Maryland was able to keep the tempo closer to their preferred pace of play. There were 72 possessions in this one; not exactly fast, but a decent job of forcing play on an opponents home court. Maryland showed good ball movement in the half court and finished with four players in double figures: Gist (13), Strawberry (18), Vasquez (15), Jones (13).

When Maryland gets balance on offense, they're difficult to guard. Gist is rapidly maturing into a fine offensive post player and should anchor Maryland inside next season. The inside-outside play kept NC State off balance all night.

On defense, Maryland's bigs were effective in challenging shots and making Costner and McCauley work for their points. The duo finished 10-29 from the field. Ibekwe, Gist, and Osby blocked a total of 5 shots, but it felt like they altered many more.

Maryland's weakness, however, continues to be the defensive boards. Maryland only rebounded 60 percent of their defensive rebounding opportunities last night, allowing NC State to grab 16 offensive rebounds and keep many possessions alive. In conference play the Terrapins only rebound 58 percent of their defensive rebounding opportunities. This is a recipe for an early bounce out of the tournament. Mark it down.