We Beat Duke. Now What?

2013-02-17T19:15:05 I've been going to the Comcast Center for the better part of 10 years and I've never seen the place quite like that.  With or without the student section's commercial break flash mob; the arena was electric for the entire game.  The stadium was a big factor in the victory. 

The game was incredibly exciting yet HORRENDOUSLY officiated. Yes, Duke had a lot of fouls called against them too, but the refs were just awful.  I counted 5 charges and I don't think there was one blocking foul called all game.  The call that fouled out Dez Wells was an abomination.  Plumlee's feet weren't set and he should have been whistled with number 5. Instead, Wells was disqualified.  That's just one of many calls that were terrible.  The refs called touch fouls on both sides.  49 fouls were called in the game.  Think about that. That's one foul for every 45 seconds of game time!  All three officials should be suspended for the rest of the season.

This was without question Maryland's best win in two years.  Offensively, the Terps shot 60% from the field (60%!!!!), held a 38-17 rebounding advantage (Duke only had 7 total rebounds in the second half), and shot 74% from the FT line.

BUT....

The Terps could not take care of the ball to save their lives.  Maryland amassed a whopping 26 turnovers.  Turgeon said "it's what we do".  He didn't mean that lovingly either.  Seth Allen had 8 turnovers by himself.  Wells had 6.  Duke committed only 12 as a team. 

Basically, the turnovers were so bad that Maryland needed to play perfect basketball in every other facet of the game in order to win. Through that lens, it's hard for fans not to be a little wary as we head towards the home stretch.

The Terps have incredible talent.  Shooting 60% from the field and hold 20+ rebounding margin against a Top 5 team is no accident.  They just can't stop shooting themselves in the foot either.

That's the Achilles heel.  Turnovers.  It will kill us eventually.  Hopefully though, that will occur after Maryland has won one or two Tournament games.

To have that chance, Maryland will need to avoid the classic letdown game.  The Terps travel to Boston College on Tuesday.  20 turnovers (let alone 26) in that contest will almost surely result in a loss.  Turgeon and the team know this is thing that needs to be fixed.  It won't happen over the next day and half but hopefully, we'll see improvement on Tuesday.  A win, and we can start talking about bubbles and dances.
basketball

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