Game Day Essentials: Game #21 at Maryland

[hhcmatt]

Nebraska Cornhuskers (15-5) at Maryland Terrapins (12-8)

 

Date: Saturday Jan 26th,  2024
Time: 11:00 am 
Arena: Xfinity Center

Broadcast:  BTN

Maryland Info

Head Coach: Kevin Willard (year 2)
Location: College Park, MD
Conference: B1G 10
Nickname: Terrapins, Terps
Mascots: Testudo

Typical Rotation Depth: 7+

Point Spread: Maryland by 4.5

Last Time out: Won at Iowa

KenPom rank: 67

Nota bene:  

• Nebraska is 1-6 all-time on the road vs Maryland. That one win was also the only other time the game started at 11 am CST as Tim Miles famously/desperately rolled out a 1-3-1 zone to overcome a 12 point deficit with 5 minutes to go on New Year's day.
• Juwan Gary is not expected to play
• Maryland is KenPom's 39th most experienced team despite starting a true freshman
• Maryland has a small rotation, ranking 292nd in KenPom's bench minutes stat
• Jahmir Young and Brice Williams were teammates at Charlotte for 3 seasons (2019-2022)

 

KenPom most used lineups

	PG	SG	SF	PF	C	Pct
1	1 Jahmir Young 6-1  185  Sr	5 DeShawn Harris-Smith 6-5  215  Fr	22 Jordan Geronimo 6-6  225  Jr	24 Donta Scott 6-8  230  Sr	10 Julian Reese 6-9  230  Jr	27.9
2	1 Jahmir Young 6-1  185  Sr	5 DeShawn Harris-Smith 6-5  215  Fr	12 Jamie Kaiser 6-6  205  Fr	24 Donta Scott 6-8  230  Sr	10 Julian Reese 6-9  230  Jr	16.7

 

Player to watch: Jahmir Young

The 5th year senior PG is one of the best in the league and personally closed out Iowa at Carver Hawkeye arena on Wednesday. At 20.8 ppg, Young leads the team in scoring as well as assists and steals. He's a three level scorer capable of carrying the team as needed. Averages over 34 minutes per game

 

Player to watch: Donta Scott

The 5th year senior forward is one of Maryland's biggest 3pt threat as he's hitting over 39% from deep this year. He's one of 3 Terps averaging double digit scoring

 

Player to watch:    Julian Reese

Reese anchors the defense at center, allowing the team to run guys off the 3pt line while leading the team in blocks and rebounds. Doesn't shoot from outside but will take mid-range jumpers

 

Others to watch

Freshman Guard Harris-Smith is a big and tough defender. His shooting is extremely suspect though. Indiana transfer F Geronimo is a great secondary shot blocker and inside scorer...though another guy with a busted outside shot. Freshman F Jamie Kaiser was brought in to take 3s and he's 3rd on the team with 73..problem is he's only make 16 of them (21.9%). Senior guard Jahari Long is capable of coming in and knocking down a couple of 3s per game. Everyone is just depth that may or may not make an impact in this game.

 

UNL Game Notes

 

Roster/infirmary report

Will update if needed when the B1G releases their injury 

 

Out indefinitely 

5   Ahron Ulis     6-3    190 lbs    Junior - Likely out for the season

 

Emergency use 

15  Blaise Keita     6-11    257 lbs    Junior - Ongoing ankle injury recovery

4   Juwan Gary                   6-6    221 lbs    Junior - Calf Strain

 

Possible starters for Nebraska

10    Jamarques Lawrence  6-3    183 lbs    Sophomore

30   Keisei Tominaga           6-2    179 lbs    Senior

3     Brice Williams               6-7    213 lbs    Junior

53   Josiah Allick                 6-8    231 lbs    Senior

51    Rienk Mast                 6-10    248 lbs    Junior

 

Bench

0    C.J. Wilcher                  6-5    214 lbs    Junior

9    Jarron Coleman            6-5    213 lbs    Senior
1    Sam Hoiberg                 6-0    183 lbs    Sophomore
11    Eli Rice                         6-8    213 lbs    Freshman
21    Matar Diop                 6-10    213 lbs    Freshman

35    Henry Burt                  6-7    216 lbs    RS Freshman

2    Ramel Lloyd Jr.             6-6    210 lbs    RS Freshman

31    Cale Jacobsen            6-4    200 lbs    RS Freshman

24    Jeffrey Grace III         6-3    197 lbs    Sophomore 

 

The Skinny: 

Thanks in part to poor shooting and turnovers, Maryland's offense has struggled this season under 2nd year coach Kevin Willard.  The Terps are compensating by currently running best defense in the B1G which has enabled them to go out and grab two conference road wins. Today Nebraska, a team that has given up over 80 ppg in conference on the road, will likely need to find the defensive energy the bring at home on the road if they hope to obtain their first road conference win of the season.

 

For the most part Maryland runs teams off the 3pt line so Nebraska will likely be forced to work into the paint. Any sort of foul trouble the Huskers can draw to try to get into Maryland's bench and score from the FT line will go a long way today. While not a good FT shooting team, the Terps will try to get to the FT line as an offensive strategy as well as supplementing with points off of turnovers and offensive rebounds. 

 

The numbers say this is a winnable game for Nebraska but at the end of the day Nebraska hasn't proven they can stop anyone on the road and Maryland has the better closer.

 

Prediction: Maryland 73 - Nebraska 67

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