Any Given Night: Maryland’s Countless Weapons Have The Terps Ready For March

Brenda Frese’s message on Selection Sunday was clear: “I would not want to see Maryland in (my) bracket.”

It’s hard to imagine any other team in the Chapel Hill Regional was stoked to see a Maryland squad with a +19 scoring margin, a +10 rebound margin, and a +4 turnover margin on the docket. A Terrapin team full of scoring threats and incredible storylines is ready to continue building on the program’s history in the tournament.

“Anyone in March is a great team,” Saylor Poffenbarger said. “Coach B does a good job of reminding us that we go into March 0-0. When March Madness starts, everyone's the same, and everyone can win. Everyone's really talented, but I think for us, we just have to keep the main thing, the main thing, and play to the Maryland standard.”

The Terps are no strangers to the NCAA Tournament, with this weekend marking their 16th consecutive appearance, their 33rd in program history, and their 22nd under Frese. A 2-0 weekend in Chapel Hill would send Maryland to its 17th all-time Sweet Sixteen and its 13th in the Frese era. 

These Terps are battle-tested road warriors. All six of Maryland’s Quad 1 wins this season have come away from College Park. The Terps play their best in the face of adversity, and are no strangers to playing in Chapel Hill, where former ACC foe North Carolina resides.

“I think each of the student-athletes prepare their own way, and they've done that all season long,” Frese said. “We’re treating it just like a business trip. I don't think you want to make it anything more different than what you've done all season long, so the traditional bus ride that we've had up to Rutgers or Penn State will be very familiar for us as we go down to North Carolina.”

The quest to return to the acme of college basketball will begin with a new challenger: Murray State. The Terps and Racers have never faced each other, but Murray State boasts a 31-3 record and averages 86.1 points per game. Still, Maryland’s trend of road success gives Frese and her squad confidence headed down to Chapel Hill. 

“I've said this time and time again: defense travels,” Frese said. “On the offensive end, your shots can come and go, but for us, it's the intangibles — getting extra possessions and rebounding defensively — that we have to control. Those two areas are controllables for us that we've got to be able to have.”

Frese’s niece, Sydney Huber, plays for the University of Evansville, and her Purple Aces faced Murray State three times this season, including in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Championship Game. Frese has been able to gain some extra scouting on the Racers by watching her kin play against them. 

“It's just kind of a special coincidence,” Frese said. “I had already started watching that championship game, so I knew a little bit more about Murray State before we knew we were playing them.”

The biggest challenge for Murray State will be stopping a Maryland offense that can attack from countless sources. Seven different Terps have led the team in scoring in various games this season, giving Maryland as balanced an offense as one can find in collegiate hoops. 

“It allows us to be versatile,” Mir McLean said. “I think it allows us to be harder to defend, and I think that because we've been with each other for so long, it's allowed us to be able to play together. I also think it makes us harder to scout in terms of who’s going to have a big night, which makes it more fun to play too because you get to celebrate all of your teammates.”

The Terps aren’t ready for their season to end and are doing everything they can to make sure their seniors always have another game left in their college careers.

“You want to be able to lean on your experience,” Frese said. “For us, with this roster, it's our seniors, and it’s Oluchi. It’s the fact that they've been here and have been able to do it, so we’ve got to rely on that leadership.”

That senior class consists of Poffenbarger, McLean, and Yarden Garzon, a group that’s combined for 813 points for the Terps this season and hit 131 of their 214 total three-pointers. 

“It's a privilege to play in March,” Poffenbarger said. “For the seniors, I think it's bittersweet. We’re trying not to take anything for granted. We’re leaving everything out there, and trying to play as hard as we can to give everything we have every time we get a chance to.”

The pressure of the tournament won’t solely rest on the shoulders of the senior class. Oluchi Okananwa is averaging a team-high 18 points per game this season and was named a WBCA All-America Finalist. 

“I love the versatility and the depth of this team,” Poffenbarger said. “We're our best when everyone is their strongest. We're super confident, knowing every night, someone is capable of stepping up, but at the same time, we’re playing to each other's strengths, because when all of us are playing really well, we're pretty unstoppable.”

The journey starts on Friday, but the mission has been clear since the season began in November. The Terps are road warriors and are ready to come at opponents from all sides and lay everything on the line for their seniors. 

“We’re excited to go represent the name on our chest,” Frese closed Selection Sunday’s watch party. “We’re going to go play our best 40 minutes, one game at a time. Go Terps!”