This week’s “Terps Top Three” looks at Maryland’s biggest football and men’s basketball tests to date, which both await this weekend:
Banged-up Buckeyes: There are no additional superlatives needed for how No. 2 Ohio State has performed as they ride an unbeaten season into College Park Saturday (3:30 p.m., ABC). Most impressively, they’ve done it while missing key pieces.
After receivers Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson both went in the first round of the NFL Draft, talented youngster Jaxon Smith-Njigba was set to assume the No. 1 role. But he’s only played in three games this year due to a nagging hamstring injury from Week 1.
OSU’s running backs have had similar issues. TreVeyon Henderson, who rushed for 102 yards and two touchdowns against Maryland last season, didn’t play in the Buckeyes’ last two games with a foot issue. And No. 2 back Miyan Williams has missed time this year for a knee injury.
None of that has seemed to stop the nation’s second-best scoring offense, which has tallied more than 40 points in eight of 10 contests. Heisman Trophy contender C.J. Stroud has posted his second-straight campaign of at least 30 passing touchdowns (a Big Ten first), including five last week at Indiana.
Add to that the emergence of Marvin Harrison Jr. — son of the Pro Football Hall-of-Famer — with his nearly 1,000 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns, and Ohio State hasn’t missed a beat.
Forward thinking?: But will the lack of full health lead Buckeyes coach Ryan Day to potentially strategize who he does and doesn’t use versus Maryland with one extremely important game to come?
Multiple times this week, Terrapins coach Mike Locksley has directly-but-indirectly mentioned who the Buckeyes have coming up next week: Michigan, in another top 10 showdown that will likely decide the Big Ten’s entrant into the College Football Playoff.
“I told our team there’s nothing more dangerous than a desperate man that has nothing to lose. And that’s kind of where we are,” Locksley said.
“They’ve got everything to lose. They’ve got a big game after ours, I think. I don’t know who they play, but they play somebody after our game that, it’s a pretty big game.”
Could he be trying to sow confidence in his Terrapins? Perhaps, though it wouldn’t be a typical Locksley move, and Maryland doesn’t need a reminder of their stakes as they try to avoid a three-game losing streak. The Terrapins are winless against Ohio State (0-7) and haven’t mustered more than 17 points in four of the last five meetings.
The lone exception to that still sticks in the minds of Terrapins fans. In 2018, Maryland fell in overtime 52-51 — a game they led 31-17 at one point in the third quarter. Tyrrell Pigrome’s pass on what would have been an upset-making 2-point conversion was off the mark to then-freshman Jeshaun Jones. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, that was the last game between the two in College Park.
Strengthening schedule: Men’s basketball is off to a dominant start, scoring at least 71 points in all three of their outings, winning each by a 20-plus margin. It’s the first time a Maryland team has done that since the 2010-11 season.
Whether that’s a byproduct of lesser competition, with the likes of Niagara, Western Carolina and Binghamton having been deposed in succession from Xfinity Center, should become clearer this weekend in Connecticut.
The Terrapins face their first major conference opponents this weekend in the two-game Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off at Mohegan Sun. Maryland’s part of the four-team field, facing Saint Louis (Saturday) and either Miami or Providence on Sunday.
Count coach Kevin Willard as someone who’s both unimpressed by how his team plays late in games (read: reserve players) and is ready for a ramp-up.
“I’ll be honest with you, I’m really not thrilled with it. We should’ve has a 34-point win last week … we should’ve had a 34-point win Thursday. We should’ve had at least a 35-point win today,” Willard said after the Binghamton win. “I don’t like the way we ended the game. If we don’t start ending them better, they’re not going to get the opportunity.”
“The last four minutes are just as important as the first four minutes,” he continued, noting how that affects Maryland in advanced analytics ratings such as NET and KenPom. “And these guys, they do work hard. And they are good players. There’s no reason to blow a 34-point lead in the last four minutes of the game.”