Terps Men’s Basketball Looking to End USC Upstate’s Win Streak
The Maryland Terrapin men’s basketball team (9-1) has been on a roll as of late under the leadership of Head Coach Mark Turgeon. They have a 7-1 record at home in the XFINITY Center and have won nine out of their last 10 games. Their only loss came at the hands of the seventh-ranked Virginia Cavaliers.
The Terps last won against the North Carolina Central Eagles on Wednesday on the backs of forward Jake Layman (15 points, three rebounds and four assists) and guard Richaud Pack (17 points, five rebounds, one assist and one steal).
Layman got nine of his 15 from the three-point line and the Terps were seven of 15 from behind the arc, a little under 50 percent. With their leading scorer, senior guard Dez Wells (16.2 points per game) out with a fractured foot suffered against Iowa State November 25th, the Terps are holding up really well without him; and when he comes back, they could be even better.
The second-leading scorer for the Terps behind Wells is former Bishop O’Connell High School standout Melo Trimble (16 points per game). He leads the nation in free throws made (70) and attempted (78) in addition to leading the team in points (170), assists (30) and steals (12).
The Terps are facing a team in the South Carolina Upstate Spartans who are coming off a win against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 59-54. That was their third win in a row.
Some stats that stick out about this SC team: they’re 14th overall in assists per game (17.4) and seventh overall in steals per game (10.8). That defensive stat sticks out for one reason and one reason only, the Spartans can get the ball on defense and make things happen. The Terps will need to take care of the ball on offense in order to keep the Spartans defense at bay.
A few players to watch out for: senior guards Ty Greene (16.4 points per game, 2.2 assists and 3 rebounds), and Fred Miller (13.3 points per game, 3.8 assists and 4.6 rebounds). Both players can shoot the three ball, Greene at 45 percent and Miller at 47 percent. Ty Green had 16 points in the Georgia Tech game and Miller grabbed six rebounds and added three assists and five points to his stat line. If these two have great games, that could spell trouble for the Terps.
Biggest keys to the game: don’t turn the ball over, score early and often and defend the perimeter. If the Terps do those three things, they’ll win this Saturday morning, 11:00 game.