The bench is quiet, but Maryland has one of college basketball's loudest starting fives
Maryland doesn't have much firepower off the bench, but the Terps boast one of the country's most balanced starting five.
When a team scores only two bench points and makes just 25% of its threes, you usually expect them to lose. Maryland basketball defied the odds-on Thursday night.
The Terps dominated No. 17 Illinois, 91-70, in their biggest win of the season. They revoked all the narratives surrounding them - that they can't win on the road, struggle to beat good teams and blow halftime leads.
To win challenging conference road games, Maryland's five-man starting lineup has to continue to excel. Every starter except Rodney Rice registered more than 13 points.
"That starting five, for the most part, has been really, really good," Willard said.
The bench production is what it is at this point. The group of Jay Young, Tafara Gapare, Jordan Geronimo and DeShawn Harris-Smith have little scoring potential. Gapare's the only true impact piece off the bench.
So, the starters have to carry the load. They did that on Thursday, scoring 98% of the team's points. Maryland's starters have thrived since the insertion of Rice. Their 41.5 net rating is at the top of the conference, and they have a lofty 58.6 effective field goal percentage. All five starters are averaging at least 11 points per game, for a total of 70.1 points. Last year, three starters topped that number, and they totaled 58 points per game, a chunk of it concentrated in Jahmir Young's 20.4 points per game.
According to analytics site Evan Miya, among all lineups with at least 125 possessions played -- and adjusted for opponent strength -- Maryland's starting five has a 126.6 efficiency score. That's second-best in the Big Ten, a hair behind Purdue (126.7). Among lineups that have played at least 300 possessions together, Maryland's starting five ranks No. 1 nationally.
So the Terps are worlds more balanced than last year's overreliance on Young, one of the reasons they finished with a losing record.
But it's a difficult line to thread. The Terps top group can compete with nearly any other starting lineup in the Big Ten. But if one of the starters aren't playing well, coach Kevin Willard has few alternatives to score. And eventually, fatigue could set in if they're overused.
When it all comes together, though, it's beautiful basketball. Maryland didn't shoot exceptionally well at Illinois, going 3-of-12 on their three-pointers. It didn't matter. Julian Reese and Derik Queen had their best combined outing of the season, relentlessly attacking Illinois' undersized Bigs in the paint. In all, Maryland's starting five totaled 89 points.
Reese is beginning to play like an all-conference player. He scored 27 points against the Fighting Illini and has scored more than 20 points four times during the past month.
Queen had his breakthrough performance in the midst of a freshman slump. He finished with 25 points on an uber-efficient 77% from the floor.
"We knew they were down the big kid, and it was like, all right, they're going to put a freshman out there. Just don't even think about shooting threes. Like, just throw it in. Throw it in, throw it in. Don't shoot threes," Willard said.
It was a massive win for Willard, who was taking heat for his team's 0-4 road start after going 4-16 on the road in Big Ten play during his first two seasons. They didn't have to operate in crunch time or play a hot opponent. The Terps' starters put the game away with plenty of time left in the second half.
"We've been knocking on the door, Chris, we've been knocking on the door. And I'm happy for that group, because it's a good road win," Willard said.
The lack of bench scoring is a glaring weakness. In every game Maryland's lost this season, its bench has been thoroughly outplayed. But in the Big Ten and NCAA tournament, rotations are tightened. Games are usually won and lost on the backs of the team's top players. And that's good news for Maryland.
