Game Day Essentials: Game #28 vs Maryland

Maryland Info

Head Coach: Mark Turgeon
Location: College Park, MD
Conference: B1G
Nickname: Terps

Mascot:Testudo
Last time out: Beat Northwestern
Typical Rotation Depth: 7
Line: Nebraska by 1
Tempo: Middle of the road
Style: Mid 3pt Attempts/high assist

Shirt not to wear: Yellow, Under Armor, TMNT 

All games

Conference only

A combination of playing a tough conference schedule and the lack of preseason All-B1G player Justin Jackson has exposed a porous Maryland defense. On the flipside, this is a team that can shoot.  Finally, much like Nebraska this team doesn't foul but gets to the line; something has to give. 

Most Frequent Lineups over the last 5 games

Nebraska

 Maryland

Cowan, Morsell, and Huerter rarely leave the court. Above are the 4 guard lineup and tradition lineup you'll see from Maryland.  What you'll notice is that most of the time you'll have 3 guys who shoot 3s, and 2 guys you don't on the floor.

Miles Presser

Gill Presser

The biggest takeaway is that Miles is touting Maryland to his players as if they are a NCAA 6 seed as opposed to a bubble team that hasn't won on the road.

Players to watch: Bruno Fernando/Michal Cekovsky

The Huskers have concentrated this year on taking away the 3pt shot and the side effect has been some teams killing Nebraska on the inside.  Fernando and Cekovsky are more than competent inside and one of them will be on the court at all time. (backup Sean Obi is available if foul trouble is an issue)  How much will we counter with Copeland/Roby and how much will it be Jordy/Dube/Tanner?

Player to watch: Anthony Cowan

Talented sophomore PG Cowan is shooting over 40% from 3 but also also mastered the Melo Trimble head bob to the point he gets to the line at a James Palmer rate. Like many of his teammates he is turnover prone.

The Skinny

With Justin Jackson we're probably looking a tournament Maryland team as the future NBA player surely would have made a difference in some of those close road loses for the Terps. Without Jackson Maryland has still been formidable on the offensive end but has only kept Michigan under 70 points on the road in conference.

Offensively it will be tempting for Nebraska to look at Maryland's ability to block shots inside and the high 3pt% everyone is making against them and to go nuts chucking 3s. It will be in Nebraska's interest of Nebraska with their depth to make those Maryland guards work and attempt to draw some contact regardless of the fact that Maryland doesn't foul much. Any hit to Maryland's depth will be damaging. 

Defensively the Huskers will face multiple drive/shoot options in Cowan and sniper Kevin Huerter. How much can Nebraska run those guys off the 3pt line while containing the post players of Maryland?  How much can you help off of poor shooting Darryl Morsell?  This is the team that Tim Miles unleashed the 1-3-1 on last winter to improbably defeat on the road.  Would they really be so unprepared tonight?  Nebraska should be able to augment their shooting tonight off of Maryland turnovers, especially when the crowd speeds up Maryland into mistakes.  A marquee name like Maryland plus the excitement of bubble watch should bring in an electric crowd tonight.

Don't let Maryland's relatively disappointing year fool you; this is a dangerous team that is favored by computers to come in and beat us at home in a very close game.  Both teams have offenses fueled by FTs so this game could certainly end up in the hands of the refs either way. While they just whooped Northwestern at home, this Maryland team seems like it's trending downward in a season full of disappointment; Nebraska seemingly has become better and better with each game it plays.

Prediction: Nebraska 78 - Maryland 71