REACTION - Maryland 63, New Hampshire 43

Ugly first half, better second half.

I really cannot quantify just how terrible the basketball played in the first half of last night's game was. Maryland led 26-20 at half but they were ATROCIOUS outside of the first 4 minutes when they jumped out to a quick 12-0 lead. From there, the Wildcats outscored them 20-14 in the half and would have likely led if they hadn't started so poorly themselves. To recap, New Hampshire shot 7/30 from the floor in the first half for a cool 23.3% and they were just 5/20 from three point range for 25% and they were the team that shot better.

Maryland's first half stats: 7/36 from the field (19.4%), 3/12 from three point range (25%), 9/14 from the free throw line (64.3%.) Lynetta Kizer: 1/9 from field. Anjale Barrett 1/6 and 1/4 from three. Lori Bjork 1/5, all from three. Nared/Townsend/Hawkins/Rodgers combined 0/10 from floor.

This was a bad, bad, BAD half of basketball and if Maryland plays one like it against a semi-competent opponent, they're going to get burned and burned badly. For the first time all year, they showed their youth and inexperience; taking bad shots, missing badly, turning the ball over, giving wide open looks on defense, etc. And remember, this was WITH a 12-0 start. Imagine if they hadn't come out firing? That half I think safely tempered things among Terrapin Nation and reminded us all that there are going to be growing pains with this team, there are going to be ugly points, even ugly halves and maybe even ugly games, and that everyone still has a lot of work to do to get where they ultimately want to be.

But then the second half happened.

It's not like Maryland set the world on fire in half # 2. They were just 13/36 from the field, which is 36.1% That's not terrible but it's not great either. But still, it was enough to get the job done and open up the game to win by a comfortable 20 points. The key player in the second half was Diandra Tchatchouang, who really needs to stop having good games or else I might have to quit broadcasting and blogging ("zhan-dra chat-choo-wong" is how the name is pronounced I learned last night), as she had a game-high 17 points, 11 coming in the second half.

Tchatchouang also grabbed 7 rebounds, good for third on the roster behind Lynetta Kizer's 8 and Tianna Hawkins' game-high FIFTEEN. Wow, are those two (Hawkins and Tchatchouang) waging an absolute war for that starting 3 spot or what? You could argue that they're two of the three best players on the team right now. Hawkins didn't get it done offensively last night (2/7 from the field) but she found another way to contribute and to be one of the best players on the floor. That's a mark of an excellent player. I really love the job she's done for this Maryland team thus far.

Going back to Kizer though, she really struggled last night. 3/14 from the field is not the way to build on a career-high 23 point performance. At least she grabbed 8 boards and was 4/5 from the free throw line. But after dominating early on, she really really struggled with some very easy shots that she should make 100% of the time. It was a disappointing offensive effort from her but she DID still get in to double figures. That's what superstars do; they find a way to get their points even on bad nights. 11's not a ton of points but it was still good for second on the team and almost half of them came at the line, which is another mark of a superstar (getting to the stripe.) But she can't have too many more off nights against better competition. Like was said before, she needs to lead this team night in and night out, especially against the better competition.

Same goes for Lori Bjork. 1/8 from the field, all threes? Wow. And many of them missed BADLY. She really didn't have the stroke last night, she didn't get to the foul line once, and she only had one assist. Very disappointing effort from her. I think it was a case of a shooter trying to shoot her way out of a cold streak and being unable to do so, hindering the rest of her game in the process. But she's not gonna go 1/8 every night so she just has to snap out of it, put it behind her, and focus on the next game.

Going back to positives, Dara Taylor really impressed the heck out of me last night. Boy, is she fast! Brenda Frese wasn't kidding when she said she was the fastest guard she'd ever had in the program. Watching her run the break is an absolute joy. I compared her to Ty Lawson at UNC last year running the show for their men's team and while she's not that good yet, she's got that kind of quickness and natural feel for the point guard position. She had a nice game last night with 10 points on 4/7 shooting and a team-high 5 assists. She's quickly become one of my favorite players to watch on this Maryland team.

Essence Townsend can get it done on the defensive end; she blocked a couple more shots last night and grabbed 5 rebounds. But her offensive game has a long, long way to go. She's very raw on that side of the ball but only practice and game experience will get her better.

Kim Rodgers was kind of a microcosm of the Terps last night-struggled in half 1, picked it up in half 2.

Jackie Nared continues to struggle unfortunately, as does Yemi Oyefuwa, as neither of them scored last night. Anjale Barrett was poor too, just 2/11 from the field. Oyefuwa and Barrett will be quickly replaced in the starting lineup by Townsend and Taylor if they don't improve. Barrett in particular needs to watch her back; Taylor was clearly the better and more natural point guard on the floor last night and she's really impressed so far.

So that's about it. Normally recaps aren't this thorough but this was my first chance to see this year's version of the Terps in person so I wanted to give my thoughts on everyone. In short, things look good but at times there are really rough patches and some players need to improve. All in all, there's a nice core there, some players (especially young players) are really stepping up and taking charge of the team contributing night in and night out, and this is a team that should continue to get better as the year goes along.

Maryland next plays on Thursday night against Old Dominion. I'll be back with your game preview for that one in a couple of days. If I have the time (doubtful), I'd like to throw up something taking a look at the women's basketball landscape on the whole; there have been a few upsets and things of that sort, but that may have to wait until next week. Take care, everyone.