Defense was an issue in loss to N.C. State Two days later, two plays in Maryland’s 79-74 loss at North Carolina State still irked Terrapins coach Mark Turgeon.
Both came in the second half, 40 seconds apart, the only field goals of the game for Wolfpack backup center DeShawn Painter. He got them because he hustled down the floor and the Terrapins didn’t. A dunk and a three-point-play layup produced five points, matching the final margin.
Recommended Stories
| UP NEXT |
| Wake Forest at Maryland |
| When » Wednesday, 7 p.m. |
| Where » Comcast Center |
| TV » CSN+ |
Listening to Turgeon describe the plays on Tuesday, it was clear he’s spent ample time breaking them down on film, obsessing and using them as a teaching tool.
“We didn’t run back twice in a row and they went up six,” Turgeon said. “One time, [it was] lack of communication. We should have switched men. It was just stubbornness and inexperience, had two freshmen bigs in, and didn’t communicate, should have switched, could have taken the first one away.”
The basket came six seconds after 7-foot-1 freshman Alex Len missed a shot and the player he was guarding, Painter, beat everyone down the floor and received a pass from Lorenzo Brown. According to Turgeon, Maryland freshman Ashton Pankey should have picked up Painter.
Even more galling to Turgeon was the second basket, which also came on a six-second possession following a made jumper by Maryland sophomore Terrell Stoglin. Painter took another pass from Brown, dunked, and was fouled by a late-arriving Len.
“There were three guys that were wrong,” Turgeon explained. “We were supposed to be slowing the ball down. The point guard should have been all the way back and Alex, quite frankly, just didn’t run very hard.”
Turgeon wasn’t finished with his play-by-play. He continued to describe N.C. State’s next two possessions and Maryland’s defensive mistakes which resulted in baskets and an 11-point deficit.
“That’s the whole game and that’s who we are,” Turgeon said. “We gotta get rid of those plays.”
In his first season in College Park, Turgeon has proven adept at making corrections. When Maryland (10-4, 0-1 ACC) plays host to Wake Forest (10-5, 1-0) on Wednesday night, the Terps’ first priority will be to get back on defense.
“We do a good job on offense, getting out in transition, but sometimes we don’t do a good job getting back on [defense],” sophomore point guard Pe’Shon Howard said. “I think that’s [Turgeon’s] biggest concern.”
There are other things to fix from the N.C. State game. The final score could have been worse considering Maryland was beaten in several scoring categories — second-chance points (18-16), points in the paint (38-28), points off turnovers (20-11) and points in transition (16-5).
As for Wednesday night, the transition category will be the focus, especially for Len, who logged a season-high 31 minutes Sunday. Turgeon was blunt in sizing up Len.
“I think Alex is out of shape. He’s not in game shape,” Turgeon said. “And I think we gotta be tougher.”
