By Connor Wilson
After blowing out Saint Louis on Saturday, the Maryland Terrapins won the 2022 Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off as they defeated the Miami Hurricanes 88-70 on Sunday afternoon at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn.
The win means the Terps start the season 5-0 for the first time since the 2019-20 season. It also continues the team’s surprising start under new head coach Kevin Willard. Willard doesn’t even think his team has reached their full potential.
“We still have a long way to go,” Willard said. “We’re good, we have great players, but they’re still trying to learn this system. They’re still trying to get comfortable.”
Maryland poses with the trophy after winning the Hall Of Fame Tip-Off
Today was more of the same as yesterday for Maryland, as the Terps shined both offensively and defensively. They averaged 91.5 PPG this weekend, held their opponents to just 41% from the field and outrebounded their opponents 80-55.
The star of the event was Terps senior forward Donta Scott, as he averaged 24.5 PPG and 7.5 RPG in the two games. Scott was able to get pretty much anything he wanted on the offensive end and played strong defense both in the paint and on the perimeter.
Willard kept it short and sweet about his senior leader: “Donta played great.”
It was a complete team effort this afternoon for Maryland, as all five starters scored in double figures. Sophomore forward Julian Reese had 17. Senior guard Hakim Hart chipped in 14. Graduate student guards Jahmir Young and Don Carey had 13 and 12, respectively.
“We’re still growing. We get after it in practice and it helps our chemistry a lot,” Young said. “We still have a lot to learn but it's good getting those first five wins. We just gotta keep going from there.”
Maryland's Hakim Hart being guarded by Miami's Jordan Miller
One thing that really stuck out for the Terps was their three point shooting. Struggling coming into the tournament, they connected on 21 triples in the two games this weekend. Carey accounted for eight of them.
“Coach stresses moving the ball from side to side,” Carey said. “When we move the ball from side to side we can pretty much get any shot we want.”
Switching gears to Miami, the Hurricanes were overmatched physically all game and the Terps had a noticeable athletic advantage. Fourth-year junior guard Isaiah Wong starred for the Canes once again, as he scored 22 points on 8-17 shooting. He averaged 20 PPG in Uncasville.
“I feel like as a team there was low energy,” Wong said. “We’ve got to pick it up consistently. Yesterday we played good and today we came out with low energy.”
Isaiah Wong drives to the rim against Maryland
Joining Wong in double figures were fifth-year senior Jordan Miller and third-year sophomore Norchad Omier. Miller scored 18 points, marking the third time this season he’s at least reached that total. Omier added 14 points and hit his first three pointer of the season and second of his career.
Miami head coach Jim Larranaga, fresh off his 700th career win, thought his team didn’t come out of the gate the same way they did in yesterday’s win over Providence.
“We didn’t have the same energy that we had yesterday,” Larranaga said. “Maryland took it right to us. They were aggressive from start to finish.”
The Hurricanes really struggled in a couple departments in the loss. They were outrebounded 39-20 and allowed 18 Terps second chance points. That turned out to be the difference in the game.
“They had 39 rebounds to our 20,” Larranaga noted. “We really got crushed inside. We’re not a really big team, so if we’re not really connected and doing a great job at rebounding as a team, we’re gonna get hurt.”
Miami was also bugged by foul trouble all game. Sophomore guard Wooga Poplar was held to just nine minutes and four points as he picked up two fouls very early in the first half and two more very early in the second half. Omier also picked up his fourth personal foul with over 15 minutes left in the contest.
Up next for both squads, Maryland returns to College Park and has a short break before its next game on 11/25 against local foe Coppin State. Miami also returns home as they play again on 11/23 against St. Francis Brooklyn.