COLLEGE PARK, Md. — No. 7 Maryland (2-0) returns to the court for the first time in a week Nov. 16, as the Terps host an Oakland (3-1) team from the Horizon League that will give them a non-conference look at a Big Ten-sized roster.
Thanks in part to a freshman class with a ton of length, comprised of Chol Marial (7-foot-2), Makhel and Makhi Mitchell (6-foot-10), Donta Scott (6-foot-7) and Hakim Hart (6-foot-6), Maryland has the tallest team in the Big Ten, posting an average height of 6-foot-8. Without Marial, who has yet to be cleared to play following knee surgery, in the equation, KenPom ranks Maryland as the 68th-tallest team in Division I hoops.
Neither of the Terps’ first two opponents — Holy Cross (182nd in average height) and Rhode Island (198th) — had the size of the Golden Grizzlies. Oakland has the 50th-tallest roster in the country and Maryland knows it’s in for a challenge in the paint on Saturday night.
“They are who they are, so they’re going to pound it inside,” Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon said Nov. 15. “They’re going to play the way they play. I love it because it makes us work on things we haven’t had to up to this point. I love it; that’s why you play these games early. You get different looks from different teams and the way they guard.
“They’re going to switch one through five ball screens. We haven’t seen that all year, so that will be new for us. But yeah, our big guys will be challenged tomorrow and they have to do a great job defensively against this team. They have some guys that can really score around the rim — much better than we can, so it’s going to be a little challenge for our bigs, but they’ll step up and be ready for it.”
Three of Oakland’s top four leading scorers — Daniel Oladapo, Xavier Hill-Mais, and Brad Brechting — are all 6-foot-7 or taller. Through four games, they are each averaging at least 11.5 points and 7.0 rebounds.
The Terps went with a big starting lineup last Saturday against Rhode Island, as freshman Makhi Mitchell and sophomore Jalen “Stix” Smith manned the paint. Smith finished with his second straight double-double, while Mitchell found rough sledding in his first collegiate start, scoring two points and picking up four fouls in just four minutes of playing time.
But Turgeon said Friday that we’ll likely see the same or at least a similar starting lineup against Oakland due to the Golden Grizzlies’ size and presence in the paint.
“They’re really big and I’d like to play our big lineup and hope it gets us ready for some league stuff,” Turgeon said. “So we’ve practiced that the last couple of days. We started the big lineup versus Rhode Island, so we’ll probably do that again [Saturday]. But I don’t know who’s starting. We can go small if we have to. Darryl (Morsell) guarded the five man for Rhode Island. So whatever we have to do to figure out a way to win, but we plan on playing a bigger lineup tomorrow.”
A preseason All-American, Smith has 11 rebounds in each of the Terps’ first two games this season while also shooting an efficient 51.9 percent from the field. Almost all his work has been done in the post this season and he credits his time spent playing with former Terps center Bruno Fernando with helping him learn to stay aggressive on the boards.
But Smith also knows his experience last year as a freshman playing in the Big Ten — along with the nearly 30 pounds of muscle he has put on since his arrival in College Park — has gotten him ready to face some of the country’s biggest lineups. He’s viewing Saturday’s matchup as a good way to start getting his freshmen teammates caught up to that experience prior to Big Ten play.
“It’s going to be a good test for us,” Smith said. “For the freshmen coming in, they haven’t really experienced the Big Ten yet, so they’re going to get a taste of that against them because we know they’re a big, physical team.”
Besides matching Oakland’s size and physicality in the paint, the Terps are also looking for a faster start on Saturday night than they’ve had in their first two outings.
Maryland had to switch its defense and use several second-half runs to turn a three-point halftime lead into a decisive 18-point victory over Rhode Island a week ago. The Terps are hoping to start with more energy against the Golden Grizzlies.
“Just making sure we come with our own energy; we can’t rely on the crowd or anybody outside of our circle to bring our energy. We have to be that team that is able to build energy off each other, comes locked in and just ready to play,” sophomore wing Aaron Wiggins said.
One way Turgeon believes the Terps can get the energy up early is through better defense, which has been a point of emphasis at practice this week.
“I think we really got better defensively this week,” Turgeon said. “It will be interesting to see because we haven’t started games well defensively in the first two. I’m anxious to see if we can start better defensively [Saturday].
With No. 1-ranked Kentucky falling to the Missouri Valley Conference’s Evansville earlier this week, every top-ranked team such as the Terps has been put on notice.
Maryland knows if it wants to live up to expectations this season and sustain its top-10 ranking it must finish with a near-perfect non-conference record, but Turgeon believes his team is getting more used to having a target on its back by the game.
“I think each time we play we’ll get used to being a big game for that team,” Turgeon said. ‘You have that number in front of your name — I mean, look what it did for Evansville. Everybody wants to be the next Evansville, so we have to be ready to play and hopefully our guys will be ready.”
Smith was not concerned about his team’s level of focus or preparation on Friday and sees the Terps coming ready to play against Oakland.
“It’s the NCAA — any team can be beaten, so we just have to come out and play the game and execute the best way we can,” Smith said.
Maryland and Oakland are scheduled to tipoff in College Park at 12 p.m. EST. The game will be broadcast on the Maryland Sports Radio Network and available for streaming on BTN+.
