Maryland and Rutgers: Weekly Update

I think a sample size of three games is definitely large enough to decipher a trend, and that being the case I'm extremely confident that Maryland and Rutgers may not win another game this season. Since our first update last week, the Terps and Knights stumbled to a combined 0-3 record. I'm not sure how to use my newfound powers, but trust me when I tell you that I won't use them for good. If you'd like me to start a weekly recap for your least favorite team, I'm starting the bidding at one (1) Tombstone frozen pizza. Now, let's get back to business and see what happened out east.

Maryland

The Terps got crushed at Pitt , 79-59 to start the week and bookended the week with another blowout loss, this time to Florida State, 85-61. Maryland could not keep up with the quick Pitt backcourt, and despite being down only six at halftime, the Terps ended up losing by 20. Seth Allen dropped 18 coming off the bench, to lead the Terps in scoring and Evan Smotrycz added 14 and nobody else came close to double figures. 13 turnovers and 36% shooting from the field probably didn't help, but what do I know, I offered my black magic wizard services for frozen pizza earlier in this post. Things didn't get any better for Maryland in their second game of the week, against Florida State. The Seminoles shot an absurd 66.7% (16-of-24) from distance after having made 10 in their previous four games. Their inability to guard the perimeter and another sloppy day handling the ball (15 turnovers) sunk Maryland's ship, probably before it left the marina. Dez Wells had 15 points, Nick Faust had 14 points, and Smotrycz had 9 points and 8 boards to pace the Terps in their 24 point loss. Maryland returns home this week to play Notre Dame on Wednesday at seven Eastern/six Central.

Rutgers

With only one game last week, Rutgers had a chance to bounce back from their close loss to Louisville, but that, uh, did not happen. The Scarlet Knights lost by 20 to Cincinnati and my sources tell me that is not good. The first half against the Bearcats was a back and forth affair and Rutgers entered halftime only down two. The proverbial sweater began to unravel with about 12 minutes left in the game as the Scarlet Knights forgot what sport they were playing. Rutgers scored three, count 'em three, points in the last 11:50 of the game. The Scarlet Knights pretended they were henchmen in an action movie and treated the basket like the hero, as they fired shot after shot wide, long, short, really any distance but the correct one from the field. Myles Mack had 17 points and Kadeem Jack had 10 points and nine rebounds in defeat. The Bearcats were able to take control in the second half with their ability to get to the line (40 attempts to Rutgers' 21) and Rutgers inability to do anything on offense. The Knights have a home date with UCF on Wednesday and travel to Houston for a Sunday afternoon matinee this week.

Tune in next week to see if the curse breaks and one of our future conference mates gets a win and more importantly, to see if anyone sends me pizza.