Midway through the end of the second half, sophomore forward Julian Reese was running up the floor after a defensive possession when he set a strong screen at halfcourt on 5-foot-8 Western Carolina senior guard Russell Jones Jr, who went flying to the floor.
While the crowd at XFINITY Center oohed and ahhed, Reese got the ball back from junior guard Jahari Long and scooped a layup through contact that spun around the rim and dropped in for the and-one finish. The whole crowd roared as Reese jawed at the Catamounts before going to the line.
Reese had his best game of his collegiate career on Thursday night, putting up a double-double with a career high 19 points and 12 rebounds as Maryland comfortably defeated Western Carolina 71-51 to start the season out 2-0.
“What I saw today was a kid that accepted my challenge and wanted to be dominant,” coach Kevin Willard said. “And I think you’re just seeing a small sliver of how good Juju can be.”
With coach Willard undefeated through his first two games at the helm, he is the first Maryland coach since Gary Williams in 1989 to start their career undefeated through two games.
Defense was the key to victory for coach Willard’s guys as the Catamounts just couldn’t get any momentum for a comeback with the vexing Terp pressure. Maryland forced 17 turnovers and had five blocks on the night as the Catamounts shot just 27% from the field as Maryland’s active hands contested a lot of shots.
The Terps won despite the three point shot not falling all night. After shooting 45% (9-20) against Niagara in game one, the Terps shot just 10.5% (2-19) against the Catamounts.
“Let it fly, that’s who we are, we’re gonna have to shoot the ball.” Willard said. “Like I said, when your team plays as hard as those guys are playing, I’m not gonna tell them anything besides just go hoop.”
But despite the lack of perimeter shots, Maryland recognized all game that the advantage was down low against the small Western Carolina side. Reese scored all of his seven shots in the paint, and the Terps outscored the Catamounts in the paint 46-20 as Western Carolina couldn’t stop them inside.
“Nights like this, we were off from three, I gotta take that roll on, open things up inside so we can start crashing in on the paint so we can get those open threes and more better shots,” Reese said.
The dominance from the Terps inside led to a lot of fouling from Western Carolina, who hacked 23 times. But the Terps were stellar from the charity strike going 15-19 on free throws, showing a lot of prowess this season after going 12-14 against Niagara.
Other big contributors for Maryland included graduate student guard Jahmir Young, who was a force in the paint with 16 points along with five rebounds in his second game as a Terp.
Senior guard Hakim Hart also scored in double-digits, going for 10 points, five rebounds and two assists on the night. His presence was one of the most productive on the court for the Terps, finishing with a team high plus/minus of +32.
From the opening tip, Young looked to control the tempo of the game. The Maryland offense ran through him as he got the game started with a layup and fed Reese to help put the Terps on top 6-2 early in the first half.
Maryland’s size was too much for the Catamounts to handle at the start of the first half, as Reese feasted in the paint to start the night.
Since the tallest player on the court for Western Carolina was 6-foot-8 redshirt junior forward Tyzhaun Claude, Reese made an impact on the low block, scoring 10 of Maryland’s first 14 points as the Terps went up 14-8.
Hart took advantage of the Catamounts’ lack of size, getting into the post and using every inch of his frame to hit a turnaround finish through contact to make it a 20-10 game. Hart scored six in the first period.
The Catamounts were cold from the field to finish the first half, going 1-10 to end the period. This lack of scoring was caused by Maryland’s energetic defense. Players were rotating quickly out to contest the Catamounts who couldn’t find a way to get through Maryland’s tough defensive shell. The Terps forced 10 turnovers and only turned the ball over three times in the first half.
To finish off the half, Young again took advantage of the pick and roll. He used screens to create space and attack the rim for a few layups and a nice and-one finish as the Charlotte transfer led all scorers at the half with 11 points as the Terps were up 32-15. 15 points in a half is the lowest that the program has allowed in a half since 2014.
Maryland came out a little bit flat in the second half, scoring back and forth with Claude to begin. But a nice put back layup from Reese followed by Maryland’s first three of the game from Hart gave the Terps their first 20 point lead of the night, 41-21.
From that point on, Maryland’s offense went on a scoring spree, going on a 20-10 run to reach a thirty point lead after a transition alley-oop from junior guard Ian Martinez to senior forward Donta Scott for the two handed finish. Just like that, the Terps went up 61-31.
Maryland cruised to a victory as Western Carolina couldn’t dig themselves out of the massive hole. The Terps will look to keep their undefeated season alive as they take on Binghamton on Tuesday.
