It was the same old story for the Keydets tonight, although this time, the story was a bit brighter. I think Coach Baucom would take an 18-point loss against a Big Ten team on the road any day of the week, a loss in which VMI was down by four at halftime (though it really should've been tied), and Maryland needed a stellar effort from Richaud Pack and Dion Wiley to pull three.
Not having Brian Brown tonight hurt, though perhaps not so much offensively. Brian struggled mightily against West Virginia (1 for 9 shooting), but his defense was sorely missed. Christian Burton is not much of a defender and didn't put anything on the stat sheet. It's odd that Duggar would have him start over a guy like Tim Marshall or Julian Eleby, and it kind of defeats the purpose when he only plays ten minutes.
Nevertheless, the story of the game was Craig Hinton; 23 points, 8 of 9 overall, and 6 of 6 from long-range. That last stat is a killer. Craig has had a torrid start to the year and is now shooting 72% from deep, easily leading the team and well ahead of Tim Marshall, who scored 14 points tonight but needed seventeen shots to do it. Tim regressed from the WVU game, and connected on only two of his ten three-point attempts. QJ put up 18, and was the team's leading rebounder with nine boards. His three-point shooting touch is still not there, and it needs to be fixed before conference play. It's not so much the overall statistics but rather his inconsistency from beyond the arc. QJ had bad shooting performances against El Cid, Army, and now Maryland, but countered with good effort in the UNCW and WVU games. This wasn't a problem with Glasgow last season, so if he wants to be known as the go-to guy, then the three-point shots must start falling.
Phil Anglade fouled out, but not before collecting seven rebounds and six points. Phil was the only player besides Hinton who shot the ball well, as VMI connected on less than 40% of their FGs and 29% of three's. They are certainly taking as many as they should be, but it's still November and we should expect some cold shooting early on.
We "limited" ourselves to 18 turnovers, much improved from the West Va. game (it's incredible that I even have to type such a sentence). That number still needs to go down, especially for our PGs (Eleby and QJ) who combined to turn it over seven times. QJ is averaging about five turnovers per game, which is unacceptable at that position. Other than that, rebounding was what you'd expect it to be, and VMI did a much better job of pressuring the ball and forcing turnovers than on Wednesday.
I thought we had a sliver of chance late in the first half, but there were a couple things that went awry and turned the tide in MD's favor. First, let them go on an 8-0 run late in the half, but Hinton nailed a three-pointer and a turnover + foul had QJ going to the line for a 1-and-1. QJ misses the first free throw, and on the ensuing rebound, Trey Chapman fouls Jake Layman who hits both FT's with four seconds left, putting Maryland up four at the half. This was essentially a four-point turnaround all stemming from a missed FT and a foul, unfortunate mistakes that need to be corrected. Immediately we come out cold in the second half, and MD eventually takes advantage with a 13-0 run after a Marshall three. Then Eleby turns it over here and there, Branch airballs a three, Layman and Cekovsky have a block party and just like that we lose by 18.
These are things that would not have happened last season, mostly because of Glasgow's ability to take over a game when necessary. He could drive the lane for a soft floater, hit from long-range, or set up Covington and Co. with crisp passing. Obviously, both players are gone now and with that it is upon QJ (and no one else) to put a halt to runs when things fall apart. If he cannot do this then we better hope that Craig, Brian, and others step up when the going gets tough. Otherwise, expect many more second half debacles as we saw here tonight.
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