The Terps are currently 8 games into this young season, as they sit at 7-1 with a couple games played that have been worth while.

Maryland’s only loss of the year so far was a gut wrenching 78-74 defeat against now #5 Marquette where the Terps had a chance to win, but could not pull it out in the end.

The only other game of real interest was a neutral court game against a desperate and hungry Villanova team, as the Terps looked out of the rhythm in the first half, but then turned it around in the second half to take the victory 76-75. That game will serve Maryland well down the road.

Now it is December and it is time to play a couple Big 10 conference games with the first one coming this Wed night 12/4 against Ohio State in College Park.

This will be the first conference game for both Maryland and the Buckeyes (5-2) and will set the tone for the rest of season as well positioning for not only the Big 10 tournament, but seeding in the Big Dance and March Madness.

If the Terps want to win this game against the Buckeyes they will have to do two things.

On the offensive side of the game, the Terps will have to absolutely hit a few open 3’s to open the middle up for the big fellas Julian Reece and Derek Queen to operate down low. They have shown flashes of being able to hit the 3 over the course of the season so far, as the 3 new comers in Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Rodney Rice and Selton Miguel have shown that they can hit some of those open 3’s, which they were unable to do last year. The 3 point aspect for the Terps is looking better and should keep getting better as the season progresses.

It is the defensive end of the court where I feel the game will be lost or won. Maryland’s calling card is there suffocating defense, which they will need to continue to do not only in this game against Ohio State, but the rest of the season as well.

Maryland will need to contain Bruce Thornton who scores 16.4 PPG and the Buckeyes will go as Thornton goes. The key to victory is they must defend and stop Ohio State behind the arc and shut down the 3 point shooting. Ohio State leads the Big 10 in 3 point shooting percentage at 44.8% led by John Mobley Jr. (56.8%), Thornton (53.6%), Meechie Johnson Jr. (41.9%) and Micah Parrish (41.1%)

Maryland will play its normal aggressive defense and hit a couple 3’s in the clutch as well being a back and forth game with Maryland winning 75-70.