Maryland at Duke Preview

The only thing bigger in College Park then when the Terrapins travel to Durham, is when the Blue Devils make their visit to Maryland. While Duke loves to chant “not our rival” at the Terps, there is still a mutual dislike between both schools. Sure, when Gary Williams left Maryland, it hurt the rivalry, but everything picked right back up when Maryland announced their decision to leave the ACC for the Big Ten. This is the last year of the annual home and home between Duke and Maryland, which means there is more on the line with the teams likely to play just once more next year.

Now if Maryland wants to leave Cameron Indoor with a win, there are three important match-ups and factors that they will need to win.

1) Limit Seth Curry’s open shots – Everyone knows the Curry family for being filled with deadly three point shooters. Seth is currently at 43% from deep. At home, Curry can ignite the crowd and create runs with his shooting. Maryland has improved their three point defense, most notably when they frustrated Scott Wood and prevented him from getting open looks. The combination of Pe’Shon Howard, Dez Wells, and Nick Faust were able to chase Scott Wood off the three point line and force him to become a secondary option instead of a go to scorer. Maryland will need to do that again with Curry. Finding him in transition, and chasing him through double screens will be key for Maryland. When Duke goes to a line up without Plumlee in the game, it will be even more important for Maryland to limit Curry’s involvement in the game.

2) Strong PG play/Limit Turnovers – Duke is one of the more fundamental teams in the conference. They aren’t going to give up too many possessions to turnovers, so it will be important for Maryland not to do the same. At Cameron Indoor, it is even more important to limit turnovers, Duke’s students will feast off of Maryland turnovers that get converted to easy lay ups and open transition threes.

Maryland is young and very inexperienced. They have only played in a handful of road games together. Cameron Indoor is a different type of place then any other road environment Maryland has played in. Point guard be committee isn’t a great situation to be in, but that’s the one the Terps are currently in. Dez, Nick, and Pe will have to do their best to run the offense with ease and set up easy baskets for the rest of the team and themselves.

3) Start each half quickly – In order for Maryland to quiet the crowd and feel more comfortable, they will need to get out to a good start in each half. You can’t win games in the first 5 minutes, but you can play yourself into a hole. When Maryland played North Carolina State, they came out of the gates quickly, and jumped out to a 10-0 lead and forced an early timeout by the Wolfpack. This got the crowd energized and the players pumped. On the flip side, Maryland could barely get the ball over half court at North Carolina, and the Tar Heels made them pay with easy looks that got the crowd and players into the game.

If Maryland gets to halftime with a lead, or within 6 points of the Blue Devils, it will help the players believe that they are capable of winning. Maryland hasn’t had to battle too much for wins, and today will be a battle. Any confidence that they can pick up along the way will go far for this young team. I’m too nervous to give any type of prediction for this game. I feel comfortable that if Maryland can do the above, that they can win. Regardless of what happened in Duke’s last game, they are going to want to beat Maryland badly. Losing to Miami doesn’t give them an extra incentive, they don’t want to call Maryland a rival, but it is a rivalry, and with Maryland heading to the Big Ten, they won’t want the Terps to get the better of them before they leave.