COLLEGE PARK — The dream of many athletes turned into a nightmare for DeShawn Harris-Smith.
With Maryland men’s basketball trailing No. 15 Marquette by just two points Friday night, Harris-Smith had two free throws with 15 seconds left in the second half to tie the score at 76. But the sophomore shooting guard missed both, and senior point guard Stevie Mitchell hit two free throws of his own six seconds remaining to send the Golden Eagles to the 78-74 victory.
Afterwards, Terps coach Kevin Willard dismissed the notion of counseling Harris-Smith out of feeling sorry for himself.
“He’s just got to go up and shoot them again,” he said. “He’s a big boy, he’ll be all right. He’ll be in the gym tomorrow, and he’ll learn, and he’ll keep working at it, and he’ll make the next ones. I have confidence in him. He was out there for a reason. That’s part of sports. You don’t make every game-winning shot, you don’t make every game-winning play. You have to learn from it and get back in the gym and be a big boy.”
Here are three observations from Friday night’s loss to Marquette (4-0).
Free throws proved pivotal
Harris-Smith’s missed free throws were part of a larger picture in which Maryland (3-1) whiffed on four of five trips to the free throw line in the final 2:32. Graduate student small forward Selton Miguel did not convert the front end of a 1-and-1 at the 2:32 mark, and freshman center Derik Queen missed the first of two free throws before making the second with 2:09 to go.
Miguel acknowledged the significance of those lost chances.
“They were really important for us to take the lead or tie the game,” he said. “We’ve got to be more [focused] on the free throw line. Moving forward, we’ve got to step in with confidence and keep working throughout the week.”
Struggles at the free throw line are beginning to emerge as an area of concern. The Terps missed nine free throws in an 86-52 demolition of Mount St. Mary’s on Nov. 8 and seven in an 84-53 smashing of Florida A&M on Monday, but those gaffes were overshadowed by the team’s overwhelming margins of victory.
Willard chose to take a more positive spin on the missed free throws.
“That’s part of the growing process of being in tight games,” he said. “We’ve won our first three games by 30 points, and there was no pressure on anything. Now to see guys and see how they handle pressure, that’s just a good learning experience for them.”
Did the raucous crowd impact 3-point shooting?
Maryland converted 36.8% (7 of 19) of its 3-point attempts, which is low but not terrible. But that number masked the offense’s 25% showing in the first half during which the players blanked on 6 of 8 shots from the perimeter.
Willard had an unusual perspective on the Terps’ troubles in the opening frame, pointing to the enthusiasm of an announced attendance of 16,124 that was loud and raucous inside Xfinity Center.
“It was just nerves in that first half,” he said. “I don’t know if any of you ever played basketball, but if you’ve ever played in a really loud building your first time and you’ve ever been pumped up and juiced up, there’s things that you do that you’re usually not used to doing, and that’s a little bit of the learning curve. That’s why I’m excited about this team. They kind of battled and did some really good things in an environment that was phenomenal and an environment that they’re just not used to playing in. [Junior point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie] has never had a homecourt advantage like that. Selton hasn’t. Even DeShawn, because we got off to such a bad start, we never really got momentum last year. This is a team that’s going to get some momentum and play really well.”
Gillespie, who amassed 24 points, four rebounds and two steals, and Miguel, who finished with nine points, five rebounds and three assists, downplayed the crowd’s effect on the team’s long-range accuracy.
“I felt like it kind of helped us, just knowing that the fans are with us,” Gillespie said.
Added Miguel: “It was loud. Every time we made a run — and not just scoring, but with our defense — it was good.”
Kam Jones was the first of several threats for Maryland’s defense
Jones demonstrated why he was a unanimous preseason All-Big East first-team selection and a candidate for national awards. The senior shooting guard scored 18 of his game-high 28 points in the second half on 10 of 18 shooting, including 2 of 3 from 3-point range and 5 of 8 at the free-throw line.
Golden Eagles coach Shaka Smart credited Jones with adjusting to the Terps’ defensive strategy.
“The way Maryland was defending, it was different than what we typically see,” he said. “They pretty much switched on everything, including with Queen and [senior power forward Julian] Reese. That meant there were going to be some different matchups out there. We felt like we could get in the paint a lot with that being the case. Kam made really good decisions and for the most part, really finished well.”
Willard acknowledged that the Terps’ tactics were not entirely effective.
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“We tried to switch up our pick-and-roll coverage with Kam to try to go trap him, and we didn’t trap him one time,” he said. “There’s things that you practice, and there’s things of game slippage. That’s all a learning curve. That’s all something that we’ll watch film and get better at. I thought Kam was phenomenal. I thought he just kind of played like the first-team All-Big East player that he is. I thought he put them on his back and just played phenomenal.”
The immediate road won’t get easier for Maryland. The defense will tangle with Villanova’s All-Big East small forward Eric Dixon (24.8 points and 8.3 rebounds) on Nov. 24, No. 21 Ohio State’s All-Big Ten junior point guard Bruce Thornton (15.7 points and 4.3 assists) on Dec. 4, No. 13 Purdue’s duo of junior power forward Trey Kaufman-Renn (18.0 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists) and All-Big Ten point guard Braden Smith (15.5 points, 6.3 rebounds and 9.5 assists) on Dec. 8, and Syracuse’s pair of junior small forward Chris Bell (17.0 points and 3.0 rebounds) and senior power forward Jyáre Davis (15.0 points and 10.5 rebounds) on Dec. 21.
The Terps will have chances to prove they can limit opposing standouts — or continue to labor against them.
Have a news tip? Contact Edward Lee at eklee@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/EdwardLeeSun.
