The Terps men’s basketball team opened up their 2023/2024 campaign with a 68-53 win over Mount St. Mary’s. The Terps picked things where they left off last season defensively and suffocated the Mountaineers for most of the night.
Julian Reese led the team with 18 points, eight rebounds, and two blocks. Jahmir Young and DeShawn Harris-Smith both were second on the team with 12 points each in the win. The team as a whole recorded eight steals and six blocks in the defensive win. However, the Terps were cold from the three point line only going 3/16 on the night. On Tuesday, the Terps also missed eight free throws going 17/25 from the free throw line. The Terps’ shooting will need to be fixed if they want to compete for a conference championship and even more.
The Terps will head south for their second and third games of the season when they compete in the 2023 Asheville Championship Tournament. On Friday, the Terps will open up tournament play against the Davidson Wildcats. Then, the Ters will play either the UAB Dragons or Clemson Tigers on Sunday.
Davidson opened up their season against division three Washington and Lee and beat them 86-63. The Wildcats had five scorers in double digits in the win. They went 29/67 from the field, including 10/36 from three. Davidson historically is a team that is very good at shooting the three and scoring in bunches. If you let them get hot they will tear your defense apart. Davidson might not be a power six program, but they are still a team no one should take lightly. Davidson is coming off a down season where they only finished 16-16 on the season and will be looking to get out to a hot start on the season to turn things around. And what better way to do that than beating a Big Ten team in your backyard. The player to look out for most on Davidson is Grant Huffman. Huffman might not have been the leading scorer for the Wildcats, but he had the most complete game of the team and he made all the hustle plays needed to help the team.
On Sunday, the Terps will either face Clemson or UAB depending on how the game between those teams go. UAB is coming off a 73-71 overtime loss to Bradley in their first game of the season. The Dragons struggled from three just like the Terps did in their first game going just 3/19. UAB did not shoot well the entire game, only going 25/74 from the field while also missing 11 free throws. The thing UAB did very well however was getting steals. The Dragons recorded 11 total steals against Bradley to keep them in the game. Look out for Javian Davis if the Terps get matched up with UAB. Davis finished the Bradley game with a double double of 20 points and 15 rebounds. Davis against Reese would be a fun matchup to watch. Clemson on the other hand, is 1-0 after beating Winthrop 78-56. Clemson played well all-around to lead to the 22 point victory. The Tigers went 13/32 from three and only missed one free throw all game. Clemson also recorded seven steals and six blocks on defense as well. Clemson’s top scorer, PJ Hall scored 20 points after only playing half of the game. It will be crucial to slow him down if that is who the Terps get matched up with in their second game this weekend.
The Terps will open up tournament play against Davidson on Friday at 7PM. The game is set to air on ESPNU.
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