Maryland (6-4) vs. Nicholls (4-6)
When: Tuesday, Dec. 19 @ 8:30 PM
TV: Big Ten Network–Jason Horowitz, Robbie Hummel
Radio: 105.7 (Baltimore), 980 AM (DC), SiriusXM channel 372
Betting: Maryland -18; O/U: 136 (as of 12 AM, 12/19)
Maryland will look to pick up its third consecutive win on the season and 18th consecutive home win when they host Nicholls on Tuesday.
Of course, Maryland will see a familiar face along the opposing sideline with former Maryland assistant Tevon Saddler settling in for his 11th career game as head coach after leaving College Park last offseason.
Nicholls’s first two wins this season came on the road, first, a two-point upset at LSU followed by a five-point win in triple overtime against South Alabama six days later. Nicholls closed out November with consecutive losses at Mississippi State then Baylor, a 38-point drubbing, before rebounding a week later with a 14-point win over Elizabeth City St. in their most recent outing.
The Colonels are led by junior forward and Baltimore native Jamal West Jr., averaging 16.7 points and 7.9 rebounds per game as one of four double-digit scorers. Junior guard Byron Ireland, an Annapolis native, sits second on the team with 12.3 points per game. Senior forward Diante Smith has been in and out of the starting rotation to start the season but enters Tuesday averaging 12.1 points while shooting 37.5% from deep.
One advantage for Maryland? Nicholls has just one player over 6-foot-8: Oumar Koureissi, who is averaging three rebounds in just under 13 minutes per game. While Maryland has cruised by its lower-level opponents inside Xfinity over the last month, the Terps enter Tuesday night with another advantage to dominate the boards.
“It’s something we’ve been focusing on in practice really over the last two weeks just [because] we’re struggling so bad shooting the basketball that it’s got to be part of our offense a little bit, secondary offense off missed shots,” Willard said after the Penn State win. “With that, especially with that starting group with Jordan, Donta and [Julian Reese], that’s a pretty big rebounding crew and so we have to offensive rebound right now the way we’re shooting.”
Still, Maryland is coming off its second 100-point scoring performance of the season after defeating Alcorn State, 105-65, inside Xfinity last week. Maryland also posted its most efficient, and one of its most complete, performances of the season after finishing with 20 assists to eight turnovers.
“A lot of it starts in practice, having great practices. That’s something that coach preaches on,” Jahmir Young said after the win vs. Alcorn St. “Just having good practices is going to translate to the game. So if we do that, keep pushing ourselves and practice, keep pushing each other, I feel like we’re going to have good games.”
After Maryland saw six players finish in double-figures, including 34 combined points from the freshmen trio, now begs the question of whether the Terps can do it again as Willard looks for the supporting cast to settle into a groove before the new year.
“I know I’m beating a dead horse by saying the schedule was absolutely horrific and it’s that’s my fault. But you know that if this was the second or third game of the season, I think this is what we would have been seeing all along from the young guys, from the guys coming off the bench. Just to give them a chance to grow a little bit and get used to each other is huge. So I think that’s what, I was really excited about this homestand just for the fact [that] we’re getting done with finals, we can concentrate on basketball We can get in a little bit of a rhythm and every time we’ve been at home for a long stretch, we’ve ended up playing really well. Those guys have been working hard, so it’s good to see them getting rewarded.”
Maryland will look to build more positive momentum against Nicholls before hitting the road for Los Angeles with their matchup at UCLA set for a 9 PM tipoff on Friday night.
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