LGHL Visiting Locker Room: Talking Terrapins with The Diamondback

[ThomasCostello]

Visiting Locker Room: Talking Terrapins with The Diamondback
ThomasCostello via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
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Sam Jane from Maryland’s student-run newspaper talks about the Terps current winning streak and more.

Ohio State women’s basketball is in its part of the season where teams are getting a second look at the Buckeyes. Sunday, on Senior Day, its another game against the Maryland Terrapins, who have played well against the Scarlet and Gray in past seasons.

Head coach Kevin McGuff side needed a strong fourth quarter on Jan. 17 to defeat a Terps side that’s struggled to find its identity. Now, Maryland is in a four-game winning streak, that was close to five games when the Terrapins led the Iowa Hawkeyes late before losing in the closing minutes.

To get a good look at how Maryland’s changed in the last month, Land-Grant Holy Land reached out to Sam Jane of The Diamondback. The Terps beat writer discussed what’s different about this team, where guard Shyanne Sellers needs to improve to beat the Buckeyes and what Maryland needs to do to beat Ohio State.

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Land-Grant Holy Land: Even though the Terps lost to Caitlin Clark and the Iowa, the narrow margin of defeat seemed to shake loose something in Maryland. Was it confidence or have the pieces started to click into place for head coach Brenda Frese?

The Diamondback: Confidence is such a fickle aspect of basketball, that in some ways it’s hard to tell. On one hand, I do think that Maryland certainly took solace in the fact that it played a top-10 team in the country so tightly.

But I also just think the Terps are just playing better ball. Forward Jakia Brown-Turner has been a revelation over the past month, scoring around 20 points a game over her past nine outings. They’ve also solidified a bench unit, now without guard Lavender Briggs, and Frese finally seems to have a grasp on the rotation.

LGHL: Everyone knew that guard Shyanne Sellers was set to take the reins this season with now-WNBA pro Diamond Miller departing the program. During Maryland’s current four-game winning streak, the Ohioan is hitting a new level. Can you explain what’s gotten her there and what makes her so dangerous this season?

DBK: Sellers suffered a injury against Penn State that sidelined her against the Indiana Hoosiers. Since then, she has been operating at a high efficiency level. She looked the most comfortable distributing the ball in the win against Rutgers, and said to me after the game that she felt like earlier in the season teams were collapsing on her because she was playing into their hands.

Now, she’s seeing the floor a lot better and her assist rate has jumped over five percent since last year.

That’s really opened things up for the Terps offense. I do think her defense could return to form and Coach Frese agrees. She said she hoped to see Sellers playing like her typical self on defense against the Buckeyes

LGHL: You mentioned Brown-Turner. For all the talk about Sellers, Brown-Turner seems to be the star of this team right now. The former NC State player’s been Coach Frese’s most consistent scorer since the start of the 2024 calendar year. How has she improved since Buckeye fans saw her last?

DBK: “JBT” has been a godsend for Maryland since a four-point outing in a loss to Michigan State. I touched on her earlier, but her aggressiveness has really stood out. She’s taking three more shots a game than her last season at NC State, she’s scoring over a point per possession in conference and her three-point rate has dropped almost 20 percent.

That might seem counterintuitive, but Brown-Turner is at her best attacking the basket, not taking jumpers. She’s honed her game to transition scoring, attacking off the bounce and crashing the glass. Her and forward Cotie McMahon will be such an awesome matchup between two somewhat similar players Sunday.

LGHL: What does Maryland have to do on Sunday to beat Ohio State?

DBK: I think Maryland has to try and play fast but not get rattled by OSU’s press. They did a good job of that last matchup and that has to continue. Obviously OSU will be fired up, it’s their senior night and a conference title is on the line, so a good start will be paramount.

Sellers also has to play much better. She scored just 12 points in the first matchup. That total will need to be in the twenties for the Terps to compete.

And then rebounding. The Buckeyes won the game on the offensive glass last time, because Maryland was in its zone. I think the Terps will do the same because it worked the first time, but they have to close out possessions.

Overall, Maryland is playing much better but so is Ohio State. I think there is just too many paths to victory for OSU and would say they pull out a 10+ point win.

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