Terps’ missed free throws ‘starting to aggravate’ Kevin Willard | TAKEAWAYS

As much as No.

18 Maryland mens basketball took advantage of Rutgers and secured a at Xfinity Center in College Park to rebound from Thursdays 73-70 upset loss at Ohio State, there is a troubling undertone.

The Terps missed 12 of 34 free throws against the Scarlet Knights with sophomore shooting guard DeShawn Harris-Smith going 0 of 3 and junior point guard JaKobi Gillespie, sophomore shooting guard Rodney Rice, senior power forward Julian Reese and freshman center Derik Queen each whiffing on two.

It marked the third consecutive game and fifth in the past six that the team missed at least five free throws.

The wasted opportunities have hurt Maryland (18-6, 8-5 Big Ten) in four of their conference losses.

The team missed 7 of 22 in a 75-69 setback at Washington on Jan.

2, 5 of 19 in a 83-79 loss at Oregon on Jan.

5, 2 of 22 in a 76-74 overtime defeat at Northwestern on Jan.

16, and 9 of 30 in that loss against the Buckeyes.

The Terps rank ninth of 18 Big Ten teams in free-throw accuracy in league play (74.1%), which bodes ominously if they want to make a deep run in next months conference tournament.

Yes, its concerning, coach Kevin Willard acknowledged after the win against Rutgers.

Its starting to aggravate me a little bit because not only do we work on them, but were a good free-throw shooting team.

If we go back to Ohio State, if we just make our free throws, we win the game.

Sometimes it gets a little mental, sometimes its little things.

But well work on it.

Here are three observations from Sundays result.

Maybe it was the chance to compete against fellow freshmen and friends Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey.

Or maybe it was the presence of scouts from at least 12 NBA teams.

Whatever the motivation, Queens eruption was well-timed.

The freshman center from Baltimore scored a career-high 29 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and dished out five assists to outduel Harper (20 points, four rebounds and four assists) and Bailey (four points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals while dealing with the flu), who, like Queen, are projected first-round picks in the upcoming NBA draft.

Queen became the first player in the Big Ten to amass 25 points, 10 rebounds and five assists this season.

He notched the seventh double-double of his career in the first half when he collected 13 points and 10 rebounds and had the most points by a Terps freshman since Diamond Stone scored 39 in a 70-64 victory over Penn State on Dec.

30, 2015.

I just had a lot of opportunities to make shots and then a lot of opportunities to keep shooting, Queen said.

So I just kept sticking with it.

I should have went to my jump shot probably a little more after I forced going to the rim because the coaches wanted me to attack every time.

But I should have shot the jump shot a few times.

But I was open.

In four of his previous five starts, the 6-foot-10, 245-pound Queen had scored nine, seven, 12 and 13 points against older veterans.

Against Rutgers, he was frequently matched up against either 6-7, 205-pound freshman power forward Dylan Grant or 6-10, 275-pound freshman center Lathan Sommerville.

I would say this: he finally played against someone his own age, Willard said.

Hes been going against in the last four or five games a fifth-year senior, a fifth-year senior, a fifth-year senior, senior, and hes played well, but thats a grind, especially the defenses that a Nebraska will throw at you, that Northwestern throws at you, Indianas size.

...

I thought he just took advantage of the mismatch and played really well.

After a 3 of 13 showing from 3-point range in that loss at Ohio State, Maryland demonstrated marked improvement against Rutgers by hitting on 10 of 27 shots beyond the perimeter.

The Terps compiled a double-figure total of 3-pointers for the fourth time in their past six games.

Of the nine games during which they have racked up 10 or more 3-pointers, six of them occurred at Xfinity Center.

In Big Ten games at home, Maryland has converted 37.4% (52 of 139) of its 3-pointers.

On the road against league competition, that efficiency slipped slightly to 36.2% (46 of 127), and graduate student small forward Selton Miguel acknowledged a certain familiarity from playing in the friendly confines of Xfinity Center.

We definitely feel comfortable at home, he said.

I dont know, I feel like its new to us going on the road and being in different gyms, different rims.

I think we hit two or three against Ohio State.

So Coach Willard just knows that whenever we hit a three at home, we can get going.

So we just told everybody to keep shooting.

The Terps 7 of 18 display in the first half against the Scarlet Knights forced them to extend their defense, which opened the interior for Queen, according to Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell.

Obviously in the first half, hitting those threes will always do that, he said.

I thought in the second half, we kind of made some adjustments and made it a little bit harder, but then he kind of took over in the second half.

We guarded better from 3-point land, but theyve got a lot of pieces.

They can shoot the ball, and they can bring guys off the bench that can do some things.

With junior power forward Tafara Gapare sidelined by illness, the Terps turned to Geronimo off the bench, and the fifth-year senior small forward obliged.

While his final stat line of four points, five rebounds, two steals and two blocks might not seem like much, Geronimo slammed home back-to-back dunks that gave Maryland its first double-digit lead at 32-22 with 6:41 left in the first half and forced Rutgers to use a timeout.

And his work on the defensive end of the floor filled a void created by foul trouble for Reese, who sat for the final 9:19 of the first half with two fouls and fouled out with 4:37 left in the game.

Related Articles Rice praised Geronimos contributions in 14:39 of play.

JG gives us energy, he said.

When he comes in, he brings a defensive spark, dunks, gets the crowd going.

So we appreciate JG.

Geronimo might have chipped in even more if he hadnt absorbed a wayward elbow and left the game with 14:03 remaining in the second half.

Although he returned to the bench, Geronimo may need some stitches, according to Willard.

But he played great, he said of Geronimo.

Jordan and Tafara, when one of them hasnt been available, has played well because they just know they can play.

Jordan practiced great last week.

Thats why I put him in first against Ohio State.

Hes practiced really well the last couple of weeks.

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