Jalen Smith's defense on Lamar Stevens helped Maryland's winning cause
Penn State'south Lamar Stevens poses a number of challenges for defenders across the country. Every bit a histrion who can play in the post, shoot from the perimeter and excel in creating his ain shot off of dribbles and post-ups, opposing coaches are tasked with finding a player who will lucifer up and minimize his offensive impact.
For Maryland and head coach Mark Turgeon, that player was Jalen Smith. Drawing Penn State's leading scorer coming into the game at 23 points per contest, the matchup had the potential to be a tall chore for Smith, a freshman actor who is accustomed to using his size and length on the interior during his high schoolhouse days when he towered over players.
"Coming into college, I had to work on my perimeter defense because in high school I didn't actually guard on the perimeter that much," Smith said afterward the game. "Guarding on the perimeter, it's a hassle. It's something I never really did so it's just something new to learn."
Against Penn State, Smith constantly institute himself defending Stevens one-on-1 on the perimeter, and the power forward was upward to the task.
Smith was the primary defender on Stevens in all but 13 defensive one-half-court sets. During his defensive assignment on Stevens, Smith held the Big Ten's second-leading scorer to eleven points on half dozen-of-sixteen shooting.
"I idea Jalen Smith was defensively his best game since he'due south been here. He did a dandy job on Stevens," Turgeon said later on the game. "His length was terrific."
Smith's vi-human foot-10 and expansive wingspan was needed confronting Penn State's go-to scorer, specially when Stevens used crafty moves to create a shot. Smith'southward size, though, constantly made those shots much more than difficult than the 6-foot-8 frontwards unremarkably deals with.
As a squad, Maryland forced Stevens to exist a volume scorer, as he needed 24 shots to accomplish his xix points during the game. Aside from Smith, other Maryland primary defenders on Stevens held him to half dozen points on two-of-7 shooting in half-courtroom sets. Stevens got his other ii points with a transition dunk.
Stevens establish success late in the commencement half after struggling to a 1-of-vii shooting showtime past using pump fakes on the perimeter and getting towards the rim. On ii directly possessions, Smith bit on the pump false, which allowed Stevens to score both times.
Later on falling for the pump simulated for the 2d sequent possession, Turgeon substituted Smith out in favor of Bruno Fernando.
On Penn Country'southward second possession of the concluding 20 minutes, Stevens tried to utilize that pump faux once once again. This time, Smith, having made the adjustment at halftime, didn't leave his anxiety and kept pace with Stevens' drive. The possession ended in a missed turn-around jumper, which Smith heavily affected.
Turgeon readied his immature large man for the matchup during practise on Friday. Smith and the other big human were matched upwardly one-on-one with guards in the practice session. Smith also said he studied Penn Land's film and watched what it would be like to cover Stevens.
"I idea as the game went on, [Smith] got better. I recollect he followed the scouting report, which is huge," Turgeon said Tuesday. "He took abroad some strengths of [Stevens]."
Smith's pairing with Fernando is what forces him to defend some opposing players on the perimeter. Simply it's also his pairing with Fernando that allows him to amend his game on the defensive end.
"In loftier school, I normally had the high scoring load on myself. Only now, I can focus on my defense force and let me offense come up to me," Smith said.
Source: http://wmucsports.net/jalen-smiths-defense-lamar-stevens-helped-marylands-winning-cause/
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