Maryland Terrapins seek to regain defense-first mindset against Ohio State

Standing in front of the team Tuesday, Maryland coach Mark Turgeon turned to forward Jon Graham.

“Why do you care so much?” Turgeon asked.

The senior’s response was simple.

“It’s my last year, coach,” he said.

Graham is averaging 2.4 points per game this season and has made only six starts. He plays the fewest minutes of anyone in the Terrapins’ 10-man rotation. But watch No. 16 Maryland play, or ask Turgeon what qualities the 6-foot-8 forward brings to the court, and it all becomes clear.

“Jon cares. And our seniors care,” Turgeon said Wednesday. “We’re just trying to get everybody to care as much.”

With only 10 games left before the Big Ten tournament, the Terrapins are now at a point in the season where emotional leadership can be a difference-maker. Sunday’s come-from-behind victory over Northwestern was evidence of that, and Maryland will need similar qualities Thursday night on the road against Ohio State. Turgeon called the Buckeyes the most talented team in the conference.

“We’ve just got to get back to our identity, which is defense,” Graham said. “That starts in practice. Just working on the tendencies that we have, and working on defense in general. We know that we’re a good defensive team, and we know we can perform better than we showed [against Northwestern].”

Maryland has leaned on its defense all season, but that defense-first mentality depends, in large part, upon the seniors. It starts with Graham and Dez Wells, who both transferred into the program and have since become its most vocal leaders. When they play with energy, the Terrapins feed off it and usually match it.

Such was the case late in Sunday’s game against the Wildcats. Trailing by 11 points with less than four minutes remaining, Wells gave something of a motivational speech to the team. In Turgeon’s words, “He got after the guys pretty good.” Maryland responded by getting three defensive stops in a row, closing the gap and eventually winning the game on a miraculous putback by Wells.

Afterwards, Wells was asked about how the Terrapins could carry their momentum over to Thursday’s game.

“For lack of a better term,” Wells said, “I’m going to put my foot in everybody’s behind and make sure that we’re ready for Ohio State.”

Maryland’s stellar freshman class, led by point guard Melo Trimble, has received a lot of the credit for the team’s early success, and rightfully so. Yet the Terrapins wouldn’t be 18-3 without their seniors, from Wells and Graham to forward Evan Smotrycz and guard Richaud Pack.

Though Wells hasn’t carried the team offensively like he did last season, Turgeon said he is every bit as responsible for the team’s success.

“The reason we’re 18-3 — we can give Melo a lot of credit, obviously — but Dez has been pretty special too,” Turgeon said. “I just think we put too much on him. If we’d all back off of him, maybe he’d relax a little bit. I’m just trying to get him to relax. He’s trying so hard, sometimes he gets in his own way. But I think Dez is having a terrific year.”

Turgeon met with almost every player individually on Monday, something he has done at various points earlier this season and said he will continue to do moving forward. Players said his message this week has been even more defensively-oriented than usual. The team’s film review session, which usually concentrates on offensive sets, was all defense. Practice has also featured additional defensive drills.

To stop Ohio State and freshman D’Angelo Russell, one of the conference’s most dangerous scorers, the Terrapins know they will have to bring an extra level of focus on that end of the floor.

“I think just getting back to our principles, and what coach teaches every day,” Jake Layman said. “Guys were kind of being lazy sometimes [against Northwestern], which he pointed out a lot. Just being in the wrong spots and not being focused.”

That’s where the energy, and motivational tactics, of Wells and Graham come in.

“It’s great as a freshman to come in and be successful right away, but my main thing is don’t ever get complacent. Don’t ever be satisfied,” Graham said. “You only get so many guaranteed games in life, whenever you play basketball. And for me, this is my last year of guaranteed basketball. I want to leave it all out on the floor. And I hope that I’m a positive influence on the guys by my actions, not just by my words.”