Maryland had everything going there way last week before heading on a two game road trip to face Washington and #9 Oregon. The Terps were feeling good, they had momentum on there side, the offense was shooting the ball at a decent clip, and the defense was playing like a top 10 defense in the Country.

And then POOF!!!!!. Just like that, things came crumbling down as the Terps (11-4, 1-3 Big 10) laid an egg against Washington which even thou they played not so well, the game was in there grasp but lost in the end 75-69 and then this past Sunday let victory slide through there fingers as #9 Oregon hung on to win 83-79 in a game the Terps should have won.

Against the Huskies (10-5, 1-3 Big 10) Maryland looks out of sorts from the opening tip and never got settled in as they were 2-11 from 3 point land and 2 offensive weapons in Ja’Kobi and Derek Queen finished with 1 point and 4 points in there first Big 10 test on the road. There was no question that Maryland was favored to win, but just did not look like the Maryland we have seen so far this year. There was just a strange feeling about the game in general and that something was just a miss. Was it the log trip, were they over looking the Huskies and looking towards the Oregon game. Who knows the answer to that question, but we found out 3 days later in Eugene.

Maryland had no time to get down on themselves as they took the trip to the second game of there west coast trip with a game with #9 Oregon (13-2, 2-2 Big 10) who lost on Thursday night as well to #25 Illinois 109-77. The first half the Terps looked like they were playing better on both sides of the ball in comparison to the Washington game and at one point led by 13, but the Ducks fought back and cut the lead to 2 as Maryland led at the half 45-42. But, being a life long Terps fan I had an uneasy feeling about the second half as we know our Terp’s. The second half was all Oregon as the Ducks came out in the second half and went on a 14-0 run and never looked back. Maryland had there chances with a couple made shots and a couple stops the outcome would have been different. Once again in the second half I just had this feeling that something was a miss and something was missing in that second half.

So, the Terps now sit at 1-3 in the Big 10 and are close to digging themselves a hole that they might not be able to climb out of. As I said, after losing this 2 game road trip, there was a feeling that I had that something was just missing and all Maryland would agree with me on what is missing with this team and it is something that is kind of surprising.

Before the Washington and Oregon games the Terps defensively, were one of the best teams in the Country only allowing 61.1 PPG which was 12th in the nation and tops in the Big 10 and on offense Maryland was scoring 87.2 PPG which was 11th in the Country. The Terps gave up 75 points to Washington and 83 to Oregon, which is a scoring differential of +14 and +22.

If Maryland isn’t shooting the ball well or if some of the big guns are playing up to par, if that stellar defense of the Terps is not playing at a high level and causing havoc, then it will be a long season. I hear alot of talk about how Maryland cant win on the road, which is true with a 4-19 road record in the Big 10 under Maryland coach Kevin Willard. This is not surprising as the previous regime of Mark Turgeon was terrible on the road as well. I am not buying that Maryland cant win on the road. This team is to talented not to be able to win on the road. If the Terp’s played defense the way they can play defense the outcome against Washington and Oregon would have been much different.

The Terps have a few days to regroup and to work on a few things as there is time to turn things around as they have the next 3 out 4 games being played in the friendly confines of the Xfinity Center, which will be a much needed confidence builder. This will kick off Friday night Jan 10th against a very good and #22 UCLA team, which this game will be an opportunity to win a much needed Quad 1 game and hopefully will; be the beginning of the turn around of the season. The schedule after that looks very winnable with a Mon Jan 13 game against Minnesota, a road (Quad 1) game on Thursday Jan16th against Northwestern and then back home for a Sunday Jan 19th game against Nebraska.

The schedule after this 4 game stretch gets much more difficult with Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Ohio State on the horizon. The season is not lost, not just yet. IN terms of metrics Maryland is still in good shape being #23 in the NET, #24 over at KenPom, #18 at BartTorvik and according to the ESPN BPI ranking they are at #22.

I think this 4 game stretch that will define the rest of the season and so we will see how the Terps respond. I think they will get back to playing that stifling and intensive defense and feed off of that on the offensive end and settling into the game into how they want to play the game.