Pokes likely to push the pace against Maryland

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Hosting their second high-major, non-conference opponent this week, the Terps are looking at a completely opposite type of team in Oklahoma State than they played in Tuesday night’s loss to Pittsburgh.

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The Panthers deploy a big, forward-heavy lineup that likes to slow the pace down and play a bruising and physical style, which proved to be a bad matchup for Maryland coming off short rest.

But the Cowboys want to run their opponents out of the gym and play at a pace that has them scoring 98.9 points per game (second nationally) but allowing 82.7 (323rd nationally). The Pokes’ up-tempo style has been brought to Stillwater, Okla., by first-year head coach Brad Underwood, who spent the last three seasons at the helm for Stephen F. Austin, which he took to three straight NCAA tournaments with a combined regular-season record of 89-14.

Underwood has also brought his winning ways with him to Oklahoma State and has the Cowboys currently at 6-1 as they enter Xfinity Center Saturday night. Despite the drastic change in opponent playing style, the Terps should have somewhat of an idea of what to expect from Oklahoma State because of their head coach Mark Turgeon’s familiarity with Underwood’s approach.

“They’re a heck of a team,” Turgeon said of Oklahoma State on Thursday. “Brad [Underwood] is one of the best coaches in the country. He’s done an amazing job in his short time as a head coach. I actually coached against Brad when I was a JV coach at Kansas and he was a junior college coach in Dodge City. We were both probably 24 or 25 years old back then. He’s done an amazing job.

“They have great guards. They play as hard as any team in the country. They’ll pressure us like no one is going to pressure us all year. They’re a relentless rebounding and running team. The keys are to take care of the basketball. They force 20 turnovers per game and that leads to a lot of points for them. So we have to be better with the ball than we have been. We have to play transition defense better than we did the other night and we have to be able to handle their pressure.”

As Turgeon alluded to, Maryland will have to take care of the ball against Oklahoma State in order to be successful and avoid back-to-back losses. The Terps are averaging just over 13 turnovers per game and protecting the ball has been an issue for them in some of their closer contests this season.

But Maryland will be relying on its starting guards--Anthony Cowan and Melo Trimble--to play smart and control the pace of the game against a very talented Oklahoma State backcourt.

“We just have to run the court, sprint to the corners, know our spacing and personnel,” Trimble said. “Just do what we do in practice. And it starts with defense. We have to get stops in order to push tempo.”

The key matchup in the game between the Terps and Cowboys will be that of Cowan and Oklahoma State sophomore point guard Juwan Evans, who is third nationally with 24.7 points per game.

Much like the team matchup, Cowan’s assignment of guarding the 6-foot-1 Evans is a stark contrast from his responsibility of defending Pitt’s 6-foot-7 point guard Jamel Artis in Maryland’s last game.

“With Artis, he was a much bigger guard, so I had to make sure I got under him as much as I could,” Cowan said. “With Evans, I’m just trying to use my quickness against him. I need to make sure I stay attached to him and stick with him. Evans is a really good shooter. With Artis, that’s not really his game--he wants to get to the basket.”

Cowan believes playing against a high-paced team like Oklahoma State will actually play to his strengths more because of his quickness, but he added that he and his teammates know that playing tough defense is paramount to winning on Saturday night.

“I enjoy it personally, just being able to run and have fun and play basketball,” Cowan said. “Not worrying about too many plays and just being able to guard your guy and win the matchup. But that’s what they want to do, just run and get in ball screens and try to go one-on-one, so we just have to make sure we guard.”

Tip-off between Maryland and Oklahoma State in College Park is scheduled for 9 p.m. EST. The game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.