Preview: Maryland Looking to End Slide, hosts UCLA in Top 20 Matchup

#20 Maryland 8-2 (1-1) vs #16 UCLA 8-2 (2-0)

When: Wednesday December 14th, 9pm EST

Where: Xfinity Center

TV: FS1

After dropping their second game in a row in an ugly defensive battle to Tennessee 56-53, the Terps travel back home to take on UCLA in another top-20 matchup inside the Xfinity Center. Maryland will be looking to snap the losing streak and get back on track heading into the easier part of non-conference play before conference play starts back up again. Following the Tennessee game, Willard talked about what needs to change and be worked more on going forward.

“This team, they’re resilient. They’re a good group to coach. I’m not happy with them right now, obviously, but I’ve learned a lot. I think the biggest thing that we’ve gotta work on is, obviously in game kind of stuff,” said Coach Willard after the Tennessee game. “I think we gotta get better at that and just clean up what we want to do and how we want to do it. But I think these guys have shown that they’re a tough group. They’re resilient. They’re an unselfish group. It’s just again, I just think, especially since no one’s been with me for eight years, not having practice time, you rest a little bit. I’m proud of how they’re playing and where we are, what we’ve gotten to. I just need, I need to get back into the practice gym and be able to practice a little bit.”

The Terps according to ESPN analytics are favored with a 58.5% win probability. The Terps are averaging 75.8 points per game and are shooting 46.7% from the field this season. Although in the last two games they have only scored 56 points per game and shot 35.5% from the field. The Bruins followed up the Illinois loss with a five-point loss against Baylor just two days later. With the Bruins 55-2 under Mick Cronin when holding the opposing team to 65 points or fewer, Maryland will hope the two days off give its shooters a chance to find their stroke again after shooting under 13% in the first half against Tennessee.

“I think there’s a little bit of nerves that go into it. They didn’t like the basketball, that’s what they said the other night and I was like, yeah, that’s convenient,” Willard joked on Tuesday. “I have confidence. We’re getting open looks. I mean, we had seven wide-open looks against Tennessee. If you can get open looks against Tennessee, you’re doing something right. We just…we didn’t make ’em.”

Willard admitted the addition of Noah Batchelor to begin the second half on Sunday was an effort to provide a spark for the offense. “I was really heated at halftime at Tennessee so I was gonna start a whole different five, but I went against that because they still were playing really hard. I was just hoping Noah would go out there and make a shot.”

Maryland will have to lean on their guards to slow down the UCLA stars of Jaime Jaquez Jr., Jaylen Clark, and Tyger Campbell who all average 13 or more points per game. The Bruins are a very guard-heavy team when it comes to scoring. Adem Bona leads their forwards with just 7.1 points per game. Jaquez has the full attention of the coaching staff ahead of Wednesday night.

“We’re gonna have to switch up our coverages. You can’t play him one way. I think the most impressive thing about him is he’ll post, he’ll throw it in and then he’ll kick it out and then he’ll get you on the second repost which is really good. I think we’re gonna have to double him at times, I think we’re gonna have to play him single coverage because he is a willing passer. And Tyger Campbell is probably as good a point guard as we’ll face all year. So their experience, if you look at them, they’re starting to play extremely physical. They’re starting to play really good defense which really helps for the fact that then you have guys on the other end that can really get you. So for Vasquez, we’re gonna have to constantly switch up our coverages.”

In both of the Terps’ losses, they turned the ball over more than ten times, keeping it clean on the offensive end will be very important, especially when facing a team that forces 17.6 turnovers per game like UCLA. The Terps will also need to force turnovers themselves to open up fast break chances on offense. UCLA only averages 10.2 turnovers per game. “They’re starting to become tougher. The difference I’ve seen from the games in Vegas to now, they’re rebounding at a higher level, they’re defending at a higher level. I think [Jamie] Jaquez is as good a player [in] college. He reminds me of [Doug] McDermott when McDermott is at Creighton cuz he just has a motor on the offensive end that doesn’t stop. So, I think the biggest difference that I’ve seen over probably the last three weeks of them is the fact that they’re playing much tougher, much more physical than they were earlier in the year.”

Both UCLA and Maryland have faced a similar opponent this season which is Illinois. The Terps beat Illinois 71-66 in a home game where they shot 44.4% from the field and 39.1% from behind the arc while only turning it over 11 times. UCLA lost to Illinois 79-70 back in November. The Bruins only shot 37.5% from the field and coughed up the ball 15 times against the Fighting Illini.

Wednesday night will also serve as a preview of a future conference matchup with UCLA joining the Big Ten in 2024-25, a move that neither Willard nor Mick Cronin expected when the game was initially scheduled.

“When I got the job, Mick called and I thought he was calling to congratulate me and he needed a pit stop before he played Kentucky. I’m a good friend and so I said yes, that he can come. And we had no idea that UCLA, would be joining the Big Ten like that. This was, we scheduled this game, I got hired in April, like early, like mid-April. So, you know for me, I respect Mick. I love the way his teams play and it’s UCLA, it’s one of the best programs in the country. So to get them here was a no-brainer and obviously to go out west next December is obviously a no-brainer cuz it’s 75 degrees and sunny.”

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