Feature photo courtesy of Maryland Athletics.
From 1984-1987, Maryland Terrapins head coach Mark Turgeon donned a Kansas Jayhawks uniform. Turgeon served as a captain in his junior and senior seasons and led the Jayhawks to the Final Four in 1986. He was the first player in Kansas basketball history to play in four consecutive Final Fours.
This year, from the sidelines, Turgeon has taken Maryland to back-to-back NCAA tournaments, and to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2003. On Thursday night, Turgeon will face his alma mater as the No. 5 seed Terps take on the overall No. 1 seed Kansas at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky.
Time and TV info: Thursday March 24, 2016 – approximately 9:40 p.m. EST on CBS
What the Terps have to say
Head Coach Mark Turgeon: “Kansas is the best, they’re ranked number one. We feel like we can play with them, we’re just not going to show up, we’re going to win the game. Our guys understand that.”
Forward Robert Carter Jr.: “I don’t really feel like we’re the underdog. I feel like we’re a really talented team, one of the best teams in the country, playing just another team that’s one of the best teams in the country.”
Point guard Melo Trimble: “People who doubt us before this game coming up, we just have to go out there and play basketball, like we’ve been saying, never listen to the media, just go out there and just worry about us as a group and everything will take care of itself.”
Forward Jake Layman: “I want to have no regrets going forward. As long as I go out there every game from now on and just play as hard as I can and just be focused on winning, I’ll be happy with whatever happens.”
Maryland players to watch:
Guard Melo Trimble
In their game against Hawaii, the Terrapins shot 1-for-18 from 3-point land. Trimble hit the only three of the game for his team. His struggles have been noted, but against the Rainbow Warriors, Trimble posted a solid performance. He committed only two turnovers and led all players in scoring with 24 points on 5-for-14 shooting. He also shot 13-for-14 from the free-throw line grabbed eight rebounds and recorded three assists. While his assist number wasn’t very high, he made a lot of good passes to players for open looks, that turned into misses. Against Kansas, Trimble will matchup with point guard Frank Mason III, who he knew when he was younger. Mason III will provide yet another difficult matchup for the sophomore point guard, but this could be the game where Trimble return’s to the high-level of play that he showed last season.
Center Diamond Stone
Against Hawaii, Maryland trailed 10-4 at the under-12 media timeout in the first half. Out of the timeout, they began to feed the ball to Stone in the paint. The freshman big man finished the game with 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting. Stone will need to get by Kansas forward Landen Lucas, who is a very strong post defender, down low. If Stone can succeed early, the Terps could get off to a quick start.
Kansas players to watch:
Forward Perry Ellis
In today’s basketball landscape, it’s uncommon for an elite player like Ellis to stay at a big school like Kansas as long as he has. That being said, Ellis is the star of the Jayhawks and one of the biggest reasons they’ve had so much success and have been able to stay on top at No. 1 in a year full of parity. Ellis plays 30.2 minutes per game, leads the team with 16.9 points per game, is second on the team with 5.9 rebounds per game and shoots 53.3 percent from the field. Shutting down Ellis will be key for the Terrapins on Thursday.
Point Guard Frank Mason III
Mason III is a good all-around player and the floor general of the Jayhawks offense. He can defend, score and dish. He’ll pose a big challenge for Trimble. Against UConn, he scored eight points, grabbed five boards, tallied four assists and notched a steal. It will be important for Trimble to outplay the All-Big 12 second team member and Big 12 All-Defensive team member on Thursday.
Maryland vs. Kansas History: Maryland has won two of five meetings all-time against Kansas. The Jayhawks won the first three meetings between 1964 and 1984. In 1984, Turgeon led the Jayhawks with a team-high seven assists. The most notable past meeting between the two teams may be the most recent one. In 2002, Maryland defeated Kansas 97-88 in the Final Four, before taking down Indiana in the championship game to earn its first and only national championship.
Kansas NCAA tournament history: Kansas has been to the NCAA tournament 45 times. This season is its 27th consecutive appearance at the big dance. The Jayhawks have been to 31 Sweet Sixteens, 14 Final Fours and have won three NCAA titles, most recently in 2008.
Prediction: Maryland started of the season ranked higher than Kansas, and has since fallen to where they are four seeds lower in the NCAA tournament. I think they’ll put up a fight on Thursday, but to win, they’ll have to play their best. Terps play some good basketball but guard Wayne Selden Jr. sends them packing with a three in the closing seconds, Jayhawks win 79-78.
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