After playing five games in 10 days, the Terps got a bit of a breather this week ahead of their opening round Thanksgiving Day game versus Richmond in the Baha Mar Bahamas Championship.
But things won’t get any easier for the Terps in the Bahamas, as they will face an experienced Richmond team out of the Atlantic 10 and their first Power 5 opponent on Saturday in either Louisville or Mississippi State, depending on Thursday’s results.
The Terps struggled defending a small Hofstra team in their most recent game, with the Pride hitting 12 threes and shooting 38 percent from beyond the arc. As a result, Maryland’s two centers, Qudus Wahab and Julian Reese, only played a combined 27 minutes.
Despite playing a smaller lineup versus Hofstra and Wahab logging just 24 minutes of court time in the past two games, Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon does not foresee the Terps using a smaller lineup more frequently moving forward. In fact, just the opposite.
“I think we’re gonna stay big, Q and either JuJu at the center and then hopefully down the road play those two together,” said Turgeon. “The matchups have just been so tough, we’ve played these little teams that spread you out and are really good teams. But no, we plan on staying big [Thursday]. Doesn’t mean I will the whole game, but that’s the plan, that’s the way we’re preparing. We’ve had a good week of practice, we’ve had some time to get refreshed and do some things but I think we all know what our best lineup is, but we just have to get that best lineup and all those guys playing well. Then we'll start playing bigger teams, too. Our second game here will be bigger bodies and bigger teams, no matter who it is."
Maryland’s centers will have their hands full with Richmond senior big man Bryce Golden. The 6-foot-10 Golden finished his high school career at St. James in Hagerstown, Md and is now in his sixth year with the Spiders program. He is a four-time all-conference selection and is averaging 17.6 points and 6.2 rebounds through five games this season.
The Terps will also have their hands full with Richmond junior forward Tyler Burton, who comes into Thursday’s contest averaging 19.8 points and 7.6 rebounds per game while shooting a scorching hot 17-of-29 (58.6%) from beyond the arc.
“They’re good offensively, they’ve got three sixth year guys and a bunch of fifth year guys that have been running this offense for a long time,” Turgeon said. “Got a player in Golden that really makes it go offensively. They have good shooters, they’re tough. So we’ve just got to prepare and get our guys prepared to understand what’s going on out there, how we’re going to guard it and stick with it and hopefully guard for 40 minutes. That’s been our goal. We’ve had some games where we’ve really guarded and some games where we haven’t. It’s another challenging game for us because of the way they spread the floor and do so many things.”
While the Terps will need to be dialed in defensively, they also need to start shooting the ball better on the other end of the floor, particularly from beyond the three-point line where Maryland currently ranks 329th in three-point percentage as a team.
“I think as a team we’ve kind of been struggling from three a little bit, but I think in a new environment, I’m pretty sure we’ll make threes going along and stuff,” said starting senior guard Eric Ayala.
The Terps and Spiders will tip-off at 7:00 p.m. ET from Baha Mar in the Bahamas. The game will be televised on CBS Sports Network.