Last year, Maryland men’s basketball began the season 8-0 to earn the No. 13 overall ranking in the AP poll. This year, just about everything has gone wrong for the Terps after they began the season with high expectations.
Most recently, on Nov. 17, Maryland looked unprepared and out of sync at No. 21 Villanova in a 57-40 loss just outside of Philadelphia to move to 1-3 on the season.
The Terps struggled away from College Park last season, and that trend looks to have continued. A date at Villanova was an early-season chance for a statement win to get back on track. Instead, Maryland put forth a historically bad offensive performance.
“We’re struggling on the road,” head coach Kevin Willard said following the game. “I thought ‘Nova came out with a very, very intense defense that [was] probably the best they played all year. So I think you have to give them a little bit of credit for coming out and really setting the tone.”
The Terps finished the game on a 13-2 run, but the loss still marked the program’s lowest offensive output since 1982. They were losing by as many as 32 points less than halfway through the second half.
The game quickly got out of hand when the Wildcats jumped out to a 17-3 lead in the first seven minutes, which turned into a 39-15 halftime deficit.
The Terps have lacked an overall offensive identity thus far and had yet another inefficient night shooting. As a team, Maryland made just 12 of 50 shots from the floor — good for a season-worst 24 percent output — and 5 of 26 attempts from deep.
Graduate guard Jahmir Young and junior forward Julian Reese combined for 19 points, nearly half of the Terps’ offensive production, but the duo went 5-for-18 from the floor.
“This schedule has not been conducive to growing this team and that’s my fault,” Willard said. “Jahmir’s struggles, Julian’s struggles — that’s not their fault, this is my fault. This is a bad schedule and I put it together, so I have to fix it.”
Villanova’s offense was the exact opposite of Maryland’s. It was more efficient on fewer attempts (18-for-40) and its offense found sufficient balance. Graduate forward Tyler Burton led all scorers with 15 points and missed one shot from the floor in 20 valuable minutes.
Maryland periodically left shooters open, leading to the Wildcats knocking down 39 percent of their looks from three — a clip the Terps haven’t matched in 10 games dating back to last season.
Willard started his third different lineup in four games. Senior forward Jordan Geronimo started the first two games before sophomore guard Noah Batchelor replaced him against UAB. This time, freshman forward Jamie Kaiser Jr. notched his first career start.
Kaiser was 0-for-4 from the floor and finished with zero points in 18 minutes — the second consecutive game a new starter failed to score a single point.
“I’m searching for that fifth starter, just to be honest with you. I’m searching. I’m failing miserably,” Willard said. “That’s a big spot to put a young freshman in, but I thought he did a lot of good things defensively. I thought he hustled hard. He’s going to go through it for a little bit. But I have confidence in him.”
Maryland returns to College Park for a three-game homestand beginning with UMBC on Nov. 21. The trio of games should serve as a chance to regroup and kick-start a winning streak.
“I thought we’d struggle a little bit. I didn’t think we’d struggle this bad offensively to start,” Willard said. “But I do know where we’ll be at the end of the year. So although I’m worried right now, I have great confidence in these guys and I have great confidence in where we’ll get to.”
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