Maryland Basketball: Yes, We're Still Playing

American Eagles (3-6, 0-0 Patriot) at
#16/16 Maryland Terrapins (7-2, 1-0 ACC)
Comcast Center – College Park, MD

With all the excitement in town over the Redskins recent surge, it is easy to forget that the Maryland Terrapins are on the brink of starting their ACC schedule in full force. It certainly doesn’t help the Terps that they haven’t played in almost two weeks because of final exams and that they restart their season with a game against lowly American. As a result, Gary Williams has jumped up and down and tried to do cartwheels so the media will pay attention to his program. Sorry Gary, this is a Redskins town and a Redskins state. When the Skins are in the playoff race, the state of Maryland belongs to them.

Anyway, the last time the Terps were on the court they put together their finest outing of the season to beat Boston College. And despite playing well against BC, it still wasn’t a very good game. The Terps still had problems holding on to the ball. They still had problems hitting 3-pointers. They still had problems limiting second chances for the opponent. Luckily for Maryland, Boston College played worse. Aside from Craig Smith, no one from the Eagles decided to show up (By the way, how great is Smith. This kid is an animal. He’s clearly the best player in the ACC). And even though Maryland controlled the tempo and the game throughout, it came down to the final play to decide the game. Try as he might, Nik Caner-Medley couldn’t give the game away at the end.

I’m going to try and make this one quick. I’d rather talk about the Redskins today and leave the good basketball material for after football season. Maryland takes on American tonight at the Comcast Center. This is the second straight game against a team that Gary Williams used to coach and the second straight game against an opponent nicknamed the Eagles (Is Boston College still the Screaming Eagles? Or did they drop the Screaming? Someone look into this.).

After those two tidbits, the similarities end between Maryland’s challengers. American is plain awful. Jeff Jones (Virginia) has put together some great teams in Tenleytown, but not this season. The Eagles started the year with six straight losses, including an ugly 75-35 defeat against George Mason at the BB&T. But American has rebounded with three consecutive wins against Mt. St. Mary’s, Towson and Howard. And like Maryland, American hasn’t played since early last week because of exams.

As for players, American’s roster is not so American. Four players are enrolled that are from outside the States. Their key player is Andre Ingram, who had a good game last year in College Park. So far this year, Ingram is averaging 12.4 a game with 4.5 rebounds. Their Eastern European players can hit from outside if left open, but most of them have struggled to get going this season. American poses no threat underneath the glass as only 6-10 Brayden Billbie is taller than 6-5. Ingram and Billbie are the only players averaging more than 10 points a game.

Maryland should have no problem tonight. The Terps will most likely come out rusty and flat in the first half. Don’t be surprised if American even has a lead late in the first half. But the Terps should wake up in the second half to cruise to a win.

Maryland 85
American 54