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Maryland Basketball Game Preview: Terps Take on Penn State

By Anthony Brown

COLLEGE PARK, MD - DECEMBER 30: Head coach Mark Turgeon of the Maryland Terrapins looks on in the second half against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Xfinity Center on December 30, 2015 in College Park, Maryland. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
COLLEGE PARK, MD - DECEMBER 30: Head coach Mark Turgeon of the Maryland Terrapins looks on in the second half against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Xfinity Center on December 30, 2015 in College Park, Maryland. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /
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Maryland Basketball is starting their cycle of Big Ten play in the new year on Tuesday, taking on the Penn State Nittany Lions at 7 p.m. in the Xfinity Center.

Maryland Basketball (12-3, 1-1 Big Ten) is starting their cycle of Big Ten play in the new year on Tuesday. They are taking on the Penn State Nittany Lions (11-4, 1-1 Big Ten) at 7 p.m. in the Xfinity Center.

When it rains, it pours for Maryland Basketball on the injury front. Sunday it was announced that Forward Ivan Bender tore his meniscus in his right leg. With him going down in addition to Justin Jackson, Maryland will be limited in terms of their variety of lineup changes. Veterans Jared Nickens, Sean Obi and Redshirt Freshman Joshua Tomaic are likely to see more time.

The defense was the best offense for the Terps as they outscored the University of Maryland Baltimore County Retrievers 48-21 in the second half to win 66-45 win last Friday night. Kevin Huerter was the player of the game with 20 points and six rebounds (16 points in the second half). Maryland’s floor general Anthony Cowan had 13 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists.

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In 2016, the Terps lost to the Nittany Lions 70-64 at Penn State in February.

Maryland basketball is going to have to watch out for these three Nittany Lions: Tony Carr (18.9 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 4.5 APG), Lamar Stevens (14.1 PPG, 7.1 RPG, 2.3 APG) and Mike Watkins (12.4 PPG, 8.4 RPG, 3.5 BPG). Steens and Watkins are Penn State’s leading rebounders and the Nittany Lions as a team are just outside of the top 10 in the NCAA in steals with 9.4 per game. That is going to spell trouble for the Terps if they can’t take care of the basketball in this game. They have turned the ball over in double digits multiple times this season.

Both of these teams shoot the ball well close to 50 percent and rebound the ball efficiently as well. Ball Control and ball movement are going to be vital to Maryland winning this game. In the first half against UMBC, they struggled to move the ball in the half court and turned the ball over 10 times in the first half and 15 total.

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It will be interesting to see who steps up in Ivan Bender’s place off the bench. If the Terps can get solid production out of the three players mentioned above in this game, that would be ideal.

Maryland basketball vs. Penn State game time is 7 p.m. EST and can be found live on Big Ten Network (BTN).

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