Holmes: Sulaimon Says 'Players Only' Meetings Helped Get Terps On Track
While strutting high through the weekend after a monumental Big Ten statement win over the Iowa Hawkeyes and a home-and-home sweep of the Buckeye's, the Terrapins have proven worth as a competitive power rather than a fringe threat to their conference counterparts.
Maryland's unofficial, yet obvious leader, Rasheed Sulaimon, attributes their first ranked Big Ten win to the team's improved cohesion with one another off the court rather than an improved game plan. The senior guard sites several "players only" meetings during the break as the reason for a blue-chip conference win over Iowa.
"Obviously the time off was good, but for different reasons [than rest.] We spent a lot of time growing as a team, looking at what we could've done better in all three games we lost. We had a few players only meetings. I think we grew as a team. There's a fine line between being a good and great team, and I think the little things like chemistry make a big difference," Sulaimon said.
Aside from the celebratory exchanges in between timeouts, which certainly got the rowdy-of-late Xfinity crowd going, improved chemistry among Sulaimon's teammates can be a difficult intangible to spot. 'All is well, until it's not,' as the saying goes. However, the increased effort Maryland displayed on Thursday night in crunch time was apparent, and according to Sulaimon, that was no coincidence.
"After the Michigan State game we said 'we're 20 games in. We need to start making strides. One of the things we talked about amongst ourselves was just playing harder. We have all the talent on the world--on paper we look great--but that doesn't win games. You have to still go out there and play the games, and effort defensively was key."
That defensive effort started with Sulaimon himself, as he was assigned the task of guarding an explosive senior guard like himself--Iowa's Anthony Clemmons, holding him in check at 11 points.
Although Sulaimon's defense was solid against the third-ranked Hawkeyes, it was senior forward Jake Layman's stellar defensive effort which was arguably the deciding performance in the win. Layman was tasked with guarding the Big Ten's leading scorer, Jarodd Uthoff. Layman made Uthoff about as comfortable as playing in a wasp's nest, as the scoring leader finished with just nine points, shooting 2-13 on the night.
What makes this Maryland team so dangerous is their ability to absorb a bad shooting night, or even two of them. Layman was just 1-8 from three, but he, himself compensated for the cold night after applying the players only meeting discussions to his effort on the court. The defense on Uthoff was enough to receive praise from coach Turgeon, as well.
"I thought Jake was really good on him. Our guys were great defensively. I thought we did an unbelievable job on him," said Turgeon.
Ben Holmes is a sports reporter and producer for CBS Sports Radio in Baltimore MD. He covers Maryland Terrapins Basketball and Football for Baltimore's 105.7 The Fan. You can follow Ben on twitter @HomlesOnSports.