Maryland men’s basketball’s improved defense played pivotal role in win over Western Carolina

Maryland men’s basketball drastically improved its defense — an area of concern on opening night — to stifle Western Carolina’s offense Thursday at the XFINITY Center. 

The Maryland defense allowed just 15 points in the first half, its fewest amount of points allowed in a half since 2014. The Terps continued their defensive onslaught throughout the game as the Terps’ defense held the Catamounts offense to a 27% field goal percentage for the night. Maryland’s paint defense excelled after a rocky start against Niagara Monday night, when they allowed 20 points down low in the first half alone.

“We went back and watched film on Tuesday,” coach Kevin Willard said. “I loved their intensity at the Niagara game, we just were getting overexposed and we talked about it. We worked on it on Tuesday, we worked on it again Wednesday, we worked on it again today in walkthrough. Every game that we’ve played so far from Virginia to now we’ve gotten better and better defensively.”

This time, Maryland limited Western Carolina to 20 points down low for the entire game. The Terps were active early, as they forced many long possessions, bad misses and turnovers, which led to easy points in transition. 

The combination of a pestering defense and an offense that ran the floor in transition allowed the Terps to jump out to a 10-3 turnover advantage in the first half. Maryland proceeded to nearly double Western Carolina in the points-off-turnovers battle. 

The lightning-quick playstyle that Williard preaches wore out its opponent, forcing Western Carolina to commit plenty of fouls. In just under the first eight minutes, the Terps were in the bonus. 

The Terps also capitalized on their considerable height advantage, which made up for a lackluster night shooting from deep. Sophomore forward Julian Reese was the main catalyst, as he set a new career-high in points (19) and rebounds (12), and he notched his first career double-double. 

“This is the Julian I see everyday in practice,” Willard said. “He’s been like this for the past month. What I saw the first game was a guy that didn’t play a whole lot last year and had a little nerves in his first game. What I saw today was a kid that accepted my challenge and wanted to be dominant. I think you’re just seeing a small sliver of how good Julian can be.”

Reese dominated around the basket, and his teammates continuously fed him the ball in the post. He displayed his growth by operating with his back to the basket with a strong ability to finish at the rim. 

One area of struggle for Maryland against Western Carolina was its three-point shooting. After connecting on nine triples on Monday, the Terps only connected on a pair and didn’t make their first until just over four minutes into the second half. However, the Terps adjusted and continued to ramp up the intensity.

“We missed our first 10 threes I think it was, and our defense and intensity got better,” Willard said. “That’s rare. You miss 10 threes and it’s 22-12, a lot of teams will wilt and also let teams back in.”

The ability to make both in-game adjustments alongside focusing on areas of improvement make teams great. Early in the season, the Terps have shown their ability to win in different ways. 

Because of the improved defense, and the in-game adjustments made, the Terps cruised to a 71-51 win.