Maryland-UConn: Pregame Primer

Series History: Maryland trails the Huskies in the all-time series 3-4, with the Terps having won the most recent meeting 76-66 at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 8, 2016 as part of the Jimmy V Classic.

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UConn Projected Starters

Name, Pos.	PTS	REB	AST	BLK	STL

RJ Cole, G	12.3	2.9	4.4	0.0	1.2
James Bouknight, G	19.0	5.7	1.9	0.3	1.2
Tyrese Martin, G	10.7	7.3	1.1	0.4	1.0
Isaiah Whaley, F	8.1	6.1	1.4	2.6	0.9
Adama Sanogo, F	7.5	4.8	0.6	1.0	0.4

UConn Key Reserves

Name, Pos.	PTS	REB	AST	BLK	STL

Tyler Polley, F	7.6	2.0	0.4	0.3	0.2
Jalen Gaffney, G	5.8	1.5	1.5	0.1	0.7

Maryland Projected Starters

Name, Pos.	PTS	REB	AST	BLK	STL

Hakim Hart, G	7.1	3.6	1.8	0.2	0.8
Eric Ayala, G	14.9	4.2	2.2	0.1	1.1
Aaron Wiggins, G	14.0	5.9	2.6	0.5	1.1
Darryl Morsell, G	9.0	4.0	2.8	0.6	0.9
Donta Scott, F	10.9	6.1	2.0	0.8	0.7

Maryland Key Reserves

Name, Pos.	PTS	REB	AST	BLK	STL

Jairus Hamilton, F	6.8	2.4	0.7	0.1	0.3
Galin Smith, F	3.8	2.4	0.4	0.6	0.1

What to Watch For

Bouknight vs. Morsell

Perhaps the most anticipated individual offensive-versus-defensive matchups of the entire tournament is James Bouknight versus Darryl Morsell.

Bouknight enters the NCAA Tournament as one of the nation's elite scorers, averaging 19.0 points per game coming into the tournament and having poured in a season-high 40 points in an overtime loss to Creighton back in December. He has good size and length standing at 6-foot-5. While Bouknight isn't the best in catch and shoot situations, he is one of the best in the college game today at creating his own shot off the dribble. A right-handed shooter who is right dominant, Bouknight often surprises defenders with his ability to attack the basket going left. A silky smooth jump shooter, Bouknight can also finish at the rim in a variety of creative ways.

On the defensive side, Morsell enters the NCAA Tournament as the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. As he has done throughout most of his Maryland career, Morsell was tasked with defending the opposing team's top scorer most night's this season, often whether they were in the backcourt or the frontcourt. A Baltimore native, Morsell's reputation throughout his career has been that of a junkyard dog, a scrapper who does all the little things to help his team win. In this particular matchup with Bouknight, Morsell has the size advantage. Both stand at 6-foot-5, but Morsell has the build of a tight end and knows how to throw his body around. Once known as Maryland's 'glue guy,' Morsell is now the Terps' leader both on and off the court.

“[Morsell] is the heart and soul of that team," said UConn head coach Dan Hurley. "Tremendous winner, and a tough guy, and a physical defender.”

While Morsell will spend time locked onto Bouknight, others will likely have to step up, too, as one of the biggest keys to Maryland's stout defense this year has been their ability to switch on ball screens.

“That will be his primary matchup,” Maryland coach Mark Turgeon said of Morsell. “We like to switch screens, we’re going to do what we do. But, if Bouknight is getting really hot and doing some things, we might lock Darryl into him. Right now, yeah. But between now and Saturday at 7, which is a long time from now, we might change the game plan. But Darryl will lock in on him.”

Bench Production

One of the biggest reasons for Maryland's loss to Northwestern late in the season was a lack of bench production. In that game, Jairus Hamilton, Galin Smith and Reese Mona combined for zero points and just a single shot attempt in 31 minutes of action. In an early Jan. loss to Indiana Maryland got just 4 bench points and in a loss at Wisconsin later in Jan. they got just two bench points. In each of those three games, Maryland managed to score just 55 points. If Maryland wants to advance, they will likely need more bench production than they had in any of those three losses. More specifically, Maryland needs Jairus Hamilton to take and make some threes in order to take some pressure off of the starters and to help spread the floor on offense when he's in the game.

On the flip side, UConn's Tyler Polley was Big East Sixth Man of the Year, averaging 7.6 points and 2.0 rebounds per game. UConn head coach Dan Hurley also has the ability to throw waves of bigs at opponents. Along with 6-fot-9 Polley, UConn brings 6-foot-11 senior center Josh Carlton off the bench who gives the Huskies solid backup minutes at the five. Averaging just 3.7 points and 3.8 rebounds per game off the bench this season, Carlton started every game the past two seasons, averaging 9.0 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game as a sophomore.Finally, sophomore guard Jalen Gaffney gives the Huskies good perimeter shooter and defender off the bench with the ability to get hot from beyond the arc.

Controlling the Offensive Glass

UConn enters Saturday night's game as one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the nation. Tyrese Martin is among the national leaders in offensive rebounds, averaging 2.8 per game. But then you have a wall of bigs down low who also clean up on the offensive glass for the Huskies. Isaiah Whaley, the 6-foot-9 Co-Big East Defensive Player of the Year averages 2.4 offensive boards per game, while Carlton averages 1.7 offensive boards per game in just under 12 minutes of action.

Playing a five-out offense, Maryland has been among the worst teams on the offensive glass this season, ranking 327th in offensive rebound percentage. Maryland's leading offensive rebounders are Donta Scott and Aaron Wiggins who are both averaging 1.1 offensive boards per game.

Given the size discrepancies up front, Maryland isn't likely to win many battles on the offensive glass. That likely means they will have to shoot the ball efficiently and limit the number of empty possessions. On the defensive end, the Terps will simply have to find some way to limit the number of second chance points for the Huskies.

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