During the second quarter of No. 22 Maryland women’s basketball’s clash with No. 12 Michigan State, backup point guard Kyndal Walker crossed the halfcourt line. She picked her head up, scanned the Spartans’ defense and identified Kennedy Blair tentatively stepping toward her, her body perpendicular to the rim.
Walker attacked, blowing past Blair before she could get in position. The redshirt freshman drew a foul and finished the layup off the top of the backboard.
Possessions like these — where Maryland found a high-percentage look early in the shot clock — were key to the change in Maryland’s offensive production between its four-game losing streak and upset victory on the road at Michigan State.
The performance was reminiscent of the team that dominated No. 16 Kentucky in Puerto Rico in November and a stark contrast to the one that struggled to generate any good looks against a middling Oregon. Head coach Brenda Frese opted to review the film of that win against the Wildcats and other strong performances rather than dwell on recent struggles ahead of the team’s battle with Michigan State.
“We didn’t show any Oregon film. We showed us to continue to build their confidence,” Frese said. “And we got back to playing aggressively.”
Amid Maryland’s losing streak, if it wasn’t getting to the free throw line or scoring in transition, its offense did not match the caliber of an elite Big Ten team. The Terps frequently found themselves stuck in late-shot clock situations, forcing up contested mid-range shots or layups with high degrees of difficulty.
Excluding free throws and fast break points, Maryland managed an average of just 47 points per game out of its half-court offense during the losing streak. That number shot up to 58 in the win over Michigan State — the Terps also saw even better production on the fast break.
Maryland has plenty of valid excuses for off-nights on offense. The Terps are without four guards for the remainder of the season with knee injuries. Two of them — Bri McDaniel and Kaylene Smikle — are multiple-time All-Big Ten honorees capable of being the lead guard on a contending team. The Terps were also without backup shooting guard Rainey Welson for all four games of the losing streak — she had a concussion.
The lack of offensive answers mounted pressure on Oluchi Okananwa, the Terps’ last healthy elite isolation scorer, to come up with heroic shots on every possession. But against the Spartans, Maryland shared the wealth. It moved the ball early and often, finishing with 17 assists and propelling off-the-ball scorer Yarden Garzon to a 16-point outing. Okananwa still led the way with 23 points.
“Being able to have so much confidence in the next man up really does take the pressure off,” Okananwa said. “But it also just gets me even more hype.”
The question for Maryland with six games remaining — including two contests against top-10 opponents — will be: is this offensive success replicable?
It seems like it could be.
There were some outlier performances, of course. Mir McLean shot 5-of-7 for 10 points, just her second double-digit outing of the season, and Walker ended with a highly-efficient 14. But other Terps had off nights. Isi Ozzy-Momodu had just two points in four minutes, and Addi Mack didn’t score at all.
Maryland’s roster is populated with capable offensive weapons, even in its current form. Who is shooting the ball appears far less important than the quality of shot they’re creating. The Terps will try and roll their offensive momentum into Saturday’s road battle with a capable Nebraska team.