Florida’s journey to get back to college basketball relevance after a crushing week of losses to Oklahoma and Texas Southern and has a major stop on Sunday as the Gators will go to Brooklyn to take on the Maryland Terrapins in the Basketball Hall Of Fame Invitational. The Gators have played a number of non-conference games in New York over the last few years so it was no surprise when they added this game to the schedule, and they also anticipated a quality win opportunity against a team perennially in the upper half of the Big 10.
What they didn’t expect was for longtime Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon to decide 8 games into the season that he was calling it quits, something he did a week ago much to the surprise of the college basketball universe. Maryland had been regularly finishing near the top of the Big 10 and was often in the AP Poll’s Top 25, but they had a reputation of flaming out in the NCAA Tournament and they had suffered a number of upset losses that left fans furious. Arguably the biggest Under Armour school in a fertile recruiting area there was never a problem getting talent to Maryland but the on-court product fell short and fans were running out of patience. The unrest among the fan base led to Turgeon’s decision to leave, and now the Terrapins are having to adapt on the fly.
In the interim position is Danny Manning who spent 6 six years as the head coach at Wake Forest before getting fired in 2020 and taking a year off before joining the Maryland staff. At Wake Forest he was known as someone who could develop big men and also as a solid offensive coach but their defense always struggled and, like Maryland recently, they found themselves struggling to capitalize on talent and win in March. While Manning probably isn’t a particularly highly sought after head coach on the free agent market, his high major head coaching experience makes him a much more capable interim candidate than many others in those positions.
One thing that will work in Maryland’s favor in terms of the coaching transition is that their last game was on December 5th, meaning there will be a week between that game and the contest with the Gators. Switching coaches unexpectedly midseason is never a positive, but the week of practices should help them get organized and not look scrambled when they see the Gators.
The Terrapins are 5-4 on the season with no high major wins, and their best victory is probably over Richmond on a neutral floor, though they almost let that game slip. They have losses to Louisville, Virginia Tech, and Northwestern from the high major ranks and a brutal home loss to George Mason that all tarnish a resume that is not anywhere near trending towards an NCAA Tournament berth. Currently on a three game losing streak they’re trying to keep their season from spiralling and they’re hoping their week off with the new coach will reverse the course.
Maryland is a physical team that loves to play through the post. Georgetown transfer Qudas Wahab, a veteran 6’11”, 240 pound bruiser, is the fulcrum for that style of play and he puts pressure on the defense every time he catches on the low block. Bully ball was always at the heart of what Turgeon was doing offensively and it’s also what Manning’s Wake Forest teams did so expect constant post ups and deep seals to continue to be a keep element of their offense. After the ball goes into the post if there isn’t an immediate one on one opportunity they’ll run screens for shooters and also slip those screens and cut to the rim making for some difficult actions for defenses to adjust to. Given Colin Castleton’s importance to the Gators, and how he has struggled with bigger centers, they’ll certainly go at him repeatedly and try to get him in foul trouble.
Eric Ayala is the leading scorer for the Terrapins averaging 13 points and 3 assists per game from the wing position. A senior, Ayala is all kinds of savvy and that’s something he has needed as a player that isn’t particularly skilled and doesn’t shoot the ball well, though he gets buckets with crafty moves around the rim and opportunistic drives.
Running the point for Maryland is Fatts Russell, a 5’11”, 160 pound transfer from Rhode Island where he became a household name for, well, his name, as well as his scrappy style of play. Russell is a pest to play against, someone who agitates opposing guards with his relentless on ball pressure and his desire to always go for steals. He can be extremely disruptive and can really frustrate opponents with his nagging defense. Russell also has a reputation for…I’ll call it “embellishment,” and as a 5’11” guard he can sell calls to officials like a seasoned vet.
Generally speaking, Maryland’s struggles this season have been related to the offensive side of the basketball. For starters, the long ball has not been kind to them. They are 300th in the country in three-point efficiency at 28.9% and opposing defenses have been more than happy to sag off of them and let those shots fly. Eric Ayala (29%), Fatts Russell (26%), and Donta Scott (28%) have all contributed to the problem, and what makes it that much more concerning for Maryland is the fact that Ayala and Russell both have shot the ball poorly throughout their careers so it isn’t like this is just a cold spell they’re necessarily set to break out of.
Florida is currently 280th in the country at 29.7%, so this might end up being a low scoring game where both teams can’t find rhythm from the outside.
Maryland has been a poor three-point defensive team and have allowed a lot of open threes, so if the Gators were looking for a game to come alive from deep this could very well be it.
Another stylistic element that might be in Florida’s favor is that Maryland doesn’t force many turnovers. Florida has found themselves coughing up the ball a ton in recent games which hasn’t helped their offensive issues, but Maryland’s extremely conservative defense approach might help Florida settle in and start building some confidence.
For the Gators, this game is all about whether or not they can get their defense going. Maryland is a ground and pound physical basketball team that isn’t flashy. They play meat and potatoes basketball and the Gators should know exactly what they’re going against and need to be prepared. While they don’t do anything crazy defensively they are still solid on that end and if Florida isn’t able to find any rhythm they could find themselves in a rock fight with a team that might be more comfortable in that style than they are.
Florida versus Maryland takes place on Sunday, December 12th at 4:30 PM ET. It is being televised on Big Ten Network, so be sure to check in advance how you’ll be able to watch this game.
I will also add that the Hall Of Fame Invitational is a quadruple header with Florida in game three of the slate. That means if things go late with either game that’s before them (which is totally possible, perhaps even likely) the Gators could tip off late, so keep an eye out for that just in case.