The Terps embarked on a 25-3 first-half run to secure the victory.
After defeating Manhattan in its season opener Monday, Maryland men’s basketball continued its dominant play Friday, beating Mount St. Mary’s, 86-52.
The Terps fell behind, 10-2, early, but regained momentum quickly thanks to a bevy of skillful shooting performances.
Here are three takeaways from the game.
Rice and Gillespie explode for dominant performances
The contest was close in the opening 20 minutes of play. Mount Saint Mary’s was producing offense through its creative cutting offense, often getting good looks in and around the hoop. Forward Dola Adebayo shined, scoring 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting in the first half.
Then, an explosion of offense ensued, and it was the two transfer guards that spearheaded it: Rodney Rice and Ja’Kobi Gillespie.
Gillespie was largely responsible for keeping Maryland in the game early when Mount Saint Mary’s was hitting consistently. He made two early 3-pointers, both of which were relatively well-contested. He didn’t make them off the catch in the corner, either. Instead, it was impressive dribbling and footwork that got him the necessary space to shoot. He finished with 13 points on 4-of-8 shooting.
But Rice was the true star of the first half.
Coming off the bench for the second-straight game, he provided some much-needed scoring, and he did it in a multitude of ways. In the first half, he sank three of his five 3-point attempts, including two in a row off a turnover sequence by the Mountaineers.
Rice was especially noteworthy from midrange, where he seemingly didn’t miss all night. He looks to be a sound shooting weapon with a high, quick and smooth release. He finished the night with 28 points, 26 of which came in the first half.
“He’s got a great knack to score, and he knows how to score,” head coach Kevin Willard said.
During a 4:18 stint in the first half, Gillespie and Rice combined for 21-straight points, with Rice notching 14 points and Gillespie pouring in the other seven.
Maryland’s defense came together nicely
It wasn’t pretty in the first few minutes, but the Mountaineers were never able to embark on any sort of run to make the game close later on, largely because Maryland’s defense began to dominate.
The Terps hounded the Mountaineers on almost every single inbounds possession, executing the full-court press well. While Mount Saint Mary’s did not incur any 10-second violations, it did play itself into some jump ball situations and shot clock violations.
Most impressively, though, was the 25 turnovers the Terps forced and the 27 points they scored off them, running the floor and wasting no time getting to the basket. Maryland had a whopping 16 steals on the evening, with big man Tafara Gapare leading the way with four.
Not much post play, but the Terps didn’t need it
Derik Queen and Julian Reese had mostly quiet nights, with the former scoring eight points and the latter nine. In comparison to his 22-point, 20-rebound opening night masterpiece, Queen was not nearly as dominant, nor was he as involved in the flow of the offense, either.
At the outset, the Terps still used Queen at the top of the key in a facilitating role. He got a few pick-and-roll opportunities, but he failed to assert himself around the rim at the same rate he did against Manhattan. After a few early misses, which included a midrange and 3-pointer, the Terps shied away from him.
Queen looked to be favoring one leg walking off the court at the end of the game, but Willard did not comment on his status postgame.
Reese, meanwhile, didn’t receive as many post-up opportunities as he’s likely accustomed to, but was still effective on the boards with 10 rebounds and got himself to the free-throw line. He struggled there — as he has in the past — going 5-of-10.
While neither needed to contribute heavily to secure the victory, it will be interesting to see how Willard balances getting his skilled bigs touches with the hot shooting of his perimeter players. The Terps went 9-of-23 from 3-point range on the evening.
“Everyone is capable of hitting that shot from three,” Gillespie said. “As a team, we can stretch it out, we can go down low, outside, don’t matter. We’re very versatile as a team.”