Maryland basketball legend says no to one popular candidate, talks Manning’s chances, Juan Dixon and more

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In an interview with Glenn Clark Radio, Maryland basketball legend Len Elmore didn’t say who he’d like to see the school hire as its next men’s basketball coach. But he did say who he wouldn’t hire: Auburn’s Bruce Pearl.

“Absolutely not,” he said, pointing out Pearl’s history of run-ins with the NCAA.

Clark asked, “What if somebody said back to you, Lenny, Bruce Pearl invited a kid to a cookout, right? Like, what’s so bad about that? What would you say? Is it that or is there more to it?”

Elmore: “What I would say is that you have to avoid even the appearance of impropriety. We’ve gone through that before. And it really severely set the program back. And so we don’t want to see that again. You know, Mark Turgeon in 10 years, no matter what we say about his record himself, you have to say that Mark Turgeon graduated all of the people that came through his program,” he said.

“And never had a hint of NCAA violation. And that’s why your last 10 years, despite the fact that maybe as far as you get is the Sweet 16, right? You know, notwithstanding the amount of money that you make, and I get [the Turgeon criticism], and that’s OK with me.”

Speaking of which, Clark asked him about the theory that Turgeon was treated unfairly by critical fans.

“If we’re gonna judge in context of where we are in 2022, and in the broader scope where we are politically, socially and everywhere else, the fact that coaches are compensated extraordinarily well, and this is all part of it. You’re in the public eye. I think that he was treated the way, unfortunately, society has now allowed people to be treated. I wouldn’t do it. I, you know, I wouldn’t call out his family. It had nothing to do with his family. I don’t boo at games,” Elmore said.

“But nevertheless, this is a big business. And this is big boy involvement. And so you have to be able to take that stuff. I don’t think Mark saw the worst of what fans can do, compared to some other coaches out there. And as I said, the compensation, all those things go with the territory. So I wouldn’t endorse it, and I don’t condone it, but it is what it is.

“But at some point, you got to say, ‘OK, let’s try something different.’”

He was also asked if Danny Manning should be considered for the job. (The interview took place after Maryland’s win at Northwestern, but before the Terps’ deflating home loss to Rutgers.)

“Oh, no question. You know, if they can sustain the effort and start executing, I think they crossed the big hurdle [against Northwestern], with regard to anybody who’s judging Danny’s coaching, obviously, in my opinion, down the stretch in regulation they lost a five, six-point lead. There was a little bit of time left, and people can blame that on the coach, once you have a lead like that, it’s up to the coach to keep it. But you know, they didn’t fold,” he said.

More below from Elmore on who should be hired, Juan Dixon, the players and more:

Maryland men’s basketball’s halftime lead erased, taken down by Rutgers, 70-59

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With 1:30 to go in the game and Maryland men’s basketball trailing by five, the Terps were trying to generate some offense, something it failed to do throughout the second half against Rutgers. Guard Eric Ayala shot a three from the left wing that hit off the back iron.

Maryland secured the offensive rebound and kicked it out to guard Fatts Russell. Russell also attempted a three to no avail. Rutgers came down the other end and nailed a three, pushing its lead to eight, all but locking in Rutgers’ first road win of the year and Maryland’s fifth Big Ten loss of the season through six conference games.

Maryland failed to overcome its horrendous second half offense that featured just 21 points — its fewest points in a half this season — and nine turnovers in the final 20 minutes, falling to Rutgers 70-59 on Saturday afternoon. Maryland moves to 9-8 on the year and 1-5 in the Big Ten.

“The second half, we didn’t come out and finish the way we needed to,” Interim head coach Danny Manning said. “We played well enough in the first half to give ourselves a chance to win. We didn’t finish the way we needed to.”

Both Maryland and Rutgers were plagued with poor offense to open up the Saturday Matinee in College Park. However, it was the hot hand of Ayala who led Maryland’s offense to break through in the opening minutes. Back-to-back threes from Ayala helped Maryland go on an 8-0 run to give the Terps a 13-4 lead through five minutes of action.

Ayala’s fluid scoring has been a trend in recent games, particularly in the Terps double-overtime win over Northwestern on Wednesday when the senior guard went off for a career-high 26 points and his first career double-double.

It’s a rare occurrence when Maryland jumps out to an early lead and controls both ends of the floor in the beginning portion of the game. Manning’s group has put an emphasis on getting out to faster starts and that was evident against Rutgers.

The Terps’ swarming defense allowed them to force five Rutgers turnovers in the first seven minutes that led to 10 points on the other end for Maryland.

But this time it was the Scarlet Knights who fought back in the game, going on an 8-0 run of their own to tie the game up at 14 apiece with 12 minutes to go in the first half.

The Big Ten foes, separated by just 170 miles, battled back and forth, but it was Rutgers who took its first lead of the game with seven and a half minutes to go in the first half thanks to a Ron Harper Jr. three from the left wing.

That Scarlet Knights lead didn’t last long as Maryland exploded on a 10-0 run capitalized by a Donta Scott three for his first points of the day and then a driving layup through contact. Maryland took advantage of Rutgers turnovers and pushed the ball in transition with Russell leading the break. The Terps had nine fast-break points to Rutgers’ zero in the first half.

“We had really good active hands defensively, creating some deflections that gave us a chance to get out in transition,” Manning said.

Rutgers has had its road struggles all year, struggling to consistently knock down shots away from New Brunswick that’s led to an 0-5 road record heading into Saturday, but Maryland’s defense was phenomenal in preventing a change in that trend. The Terps had seven first-half steals with seven different players collecting one.

Maryland held onto its advantage in the final few minutes, entering halftime with a 38-27 lead. While the Terps shot just 42% from the field in the first half, their tremendous defense and 13 free throw makes — compared to Rutgers’ zero — allowed Maryland to enter the break with a decent cushion.

Maryland appeared like it refused to take its foot off the gas to open the second half, determined to pick up its second win in the Big Ten, a conference where a win is never a given. But the Scarlet Knights had other plans, making a run in the second half to cut the Terps lead to three with 13 minutes to go in the game.

Hakim Hart countered with a catch-and-shoot three for his first of the game to push Maryland’s lead right back to six. That would be Maryland’s last basket for over four minutes, allowing Rutgers to go on a 10-0 run capped off by back-to-back threes from Harper to take its first lead of the half at 49-45 with under 10 minutes to go, forcing Manning to call a timeout.

The Terps were shooting a plethora of threes in an attempt to generate some offense. To Manning’s pleasure, Maryland started to generate looks from the inside out. Scott was working with the ball on the left block before kicking it out to Hart at the top of the key. Hart swung it to Russell on the right wing, who swung it to Ayala in the corner. Ayala was gifted an open look thanks to quick ball movement from Maryland. Ayala made the most of his open look — which came few and far between in the second half — nailing the three to push the Terps back in front.

But it was Harper once again in response to the Terps who hit a step-back three from the top of the key, giving the Scarlet Knights the lead back with under four minutes to go, setting up for a fantastic finish in College Park. The three gave Harper 23 points on the day. Rutgers was undefeated coming into the game when Harper scored 20 or more.

“When we had some opportunities to score the ball, we just didn’t make shots,” Manning said.

Harper would score eight more points in the game in the final three and a half minutes, good for a career-high 31 on the afternoon with 20 coming in the second half.

Maryland’s poor offense and Harper’s explosion was too much for Maryland to come back from in the final minutes, eventually falling to Rutgers.

Three things to know

1. Julian Reese got his first career start. Freshman big man Julian Reese has shown promise in his opening season competing at the collegiate stage. The four-star prospect from Baltimore has come off the bench in every game prior to Rutgers this season, but still found a way to make an impact on both ends of the floor. On Saturday, Reese got his first career start as Qudus Wahab, the normal starting center, was moved to the bench. Wahab had struggled in recent games, averaging just 2.6 points over the last three contests. Reese played 25 minutes while scoring nine points and grabbing seven rebounds. Wahab played 14 minutes, scored four points and had four rebounds.

“It’s just a different look for us,” Manning said. “He came out and did some really good things for us.”

2. Maryland dominated the free throw battle in the first half, but not the second. Danny Manning has made it an emphasis since he took over as interim head coach for Maryland to play inside and get to the rim, which helps the team get to the free throw line at a higher rate. The Terps have done just that in Big Ten play this season. Maryland leads the Big Ten in both free throws attempted and free throws made. That was highlighted against Rutgers as Maryland was 13-for-15 from the free throw line in the opening half, while Rutgers was just 0-for-1. However, it was a completely different story in the second half with Maryland shooting only four free threes, which contributed to its second-half downfall.

“Obviously we’d like to shoot a lot more than that,” Manning said on the four free throw attempts in the second half.

3. Maryland’s second-half offense was non-existent. While the Terps defense led them to their 11-point halftime lead, the offense still played a key role in an impressive first half of basketball for Maryland. However, in the latter half, Maryland’s offense completely disappeared, allowing Rutgers to crawl back in the game, eventually taking the lead and securing the win. Maryland scored 38 points in the opening half compared to just 21 in the second half. The Terps shot 25% from the floor and 20% from three in the abysmal offensive half.

Maryland men’s basketball assistant Bruce Shingler faces prostitution-related charges

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COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Maryland assistant men’s basketball coach Bruce Shingler faces charges of procuring or soliciting prostitution or assignation, according to online court records.

The school said Wednesday that Shingler was suspended 30 days for “a violation of his employment agreement” – and the athletic department would not comment further.

According to court records, Shingler has a trial date of Feb. 28 in Maryland District Court. The incident date listed for the two charges is Oct. 14, 2021.

The 40-year-old Shingler, a Maryland native, is in his first season on the Terrapins’ staff. He previously spent five seasons as an assistant at South Carolina. He has also been an assistant at Towson and Morgan State, and he was an administrative assistant at Kansas State.

Maryland basketball lands transfer commitment

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Cashius McNeilly is a Terp.

McNeilly, the former Texas A&M guard who visited over the weekend, committed to Maryland on Sunday night. He’s eligible to play beginning next season and has three years of eligibility remaining.

McNeilly, a 6-foot-4 guard from Canada, was scheduled in December but had to reschedule. McNeilly, a 6-foot-4, 191-pound shooting guard, was the No. 81 player in 247Spors rankings in the Class of 2019. He was regarded as the best shooter on Texas A&M’s roster, but he took a medical redshirt as a freshman and opted out of last season because of COVID-19. Then he opted to transfer to TCU along with teammate Emmanuel Stewart, but opted to leave the program and moved on to junior college instead.

Any commitments Maryland’s current staff gets, of course, are subject to change if Danny Manning doesn’t get the job. But that hasn’t stopped Manning and assistants Greg Manning Jr. and Matt Brady from working hard to recruit. They began working on McNeilly late last year, with Manning Jr. – no relation to Manning – serving as the point man in his recruitment.

RELATED: Maryland Basketball Scoop: A legendary coaching candidate, that wildcard and two longshots

Maryland watched him on Monday in a 22-point performance in which he shot 5 for 8 from three-point range. A native of Canada, Maryland recruited him seriously out of high school, but he chose to join his uncle Jamie McNeilly, an assistant to head coach Buzz Williams at Texas A&M. He also followed Jamie McNeilly to TCU, but quietly left the program.

McNeilly averaged 10.9 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists and shot 50 percent from three-point range for Canada at the FIBA U17 World Cup last in Argentina. He also helped Team Canada win the bronze medal at the 2018 FIBA U17 World Cup. He won MVP honors at the 2016 Under Armour Next game in Brooklyn.

“I told him after Christmas I had made the decision he was going to redshirt,” Williams said during McNeilly’s freshman year at Texas A&M. “He’s following a different plan each day than what our players are and he’s been really good. I think we’re into the second full week of that now and he’s been great.”

RELATED: Maryland Basketball Scoop: A coaching search wildcard

More to come on this breaking news.

No. 12 Maryland women’s basketball vs. Ohio State preview

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After suffering a bitter defeat to No. 8 Michigan this weekend at Xfinity Center, No. 12 Maryland women’s basketball heads to Columbus for a matinee matchup with Ohio State.

The Terps are 4-2 in conference play and 12-5 overall following the loss to the Wolverines in which Michigan guard Madie Nolan’s seven threes put the game out of reach. Thursday’s contest will be a difficult one; Ohio State has spent most of the season as a top-25 team, although the Buckeyes dropped out of the most recent AP Poll.

Associate head coach Karen Blair will lead the Terps against the Buckeyes while Head Coach Brenda Frese is with her family following the passing of her father, Bill.

“Our job now is to make the Frese family proud,” Blair said. “Bill was a guy that packed his lunch pail every day and he went to work. That’s what he’s instilled in his children and that’s why Brenda has built this program at Maryland to be a family. Our focus is to honor that legacy.”

“For us,” Blair said, “we’re playing for something bigger than ourselves right now in this moment.”

The contest versus Ohio State is set for Thursday with a 6 p.m. tipoff at Value City Arena and will be streamed on the Big Ten Network.

Ohio State Buckeyes (13-3, 5-2 Big Ten)

2020-21 record: 13-7 (9-7 Big Ten)

Head coach Kevin McGuff is in his ninth season in charge of Ohio State. Since taking over as the program’s eighth coach in 2013, McGuff has a 181–87 (.675) record in Columbus. Throughout his career in central Ohio, McGuff has led his team to four NCAA Tournament appearances from 2015 to 2018.

During the 2016-17 campaign, Ohio State finished as the conference regular-season champion. The following year, McGuff’s team was the conference regular season and conference tournament champion. Last season, the Buckeyes did not compete in March Madness due to a self-imposed ban stemming from inappropriate conduct and communications of former Assistant coach Patrick Klein, who resigned in August 2019.

Before taking charge of the Buckeyes, McGuff spent nine years at Xavier University (214-73) and two years at the University of Washington (41-26). His career record as a coach is 426-184, good for a .698 win percentage.

Players to know

Jacy Sheldon, junior guard, 5-foot-10, No. 4 — Through 16 games, Sheldon not only leads her team with 20.4 points, 3.4 assists and two steals per game, but the Ohio native is also the fourth-highest scorer in the Big Ten and 15th-best scorer in DI. Sheldon also is dangerously close to joining the esteemed 50/40/90 club; this season, the junior guard has a 55/44/85 stat line. Sheldon also earned Second Team All-Big Ten honors a season ago.

Taylor Mikesell, senior guard, 5-foot-11, No. 24 — If Sheldon is scorer 1A for the Buckeyes, Mikesell is 1B. Averaging 18.4 points and 3.5 rebounds a night, Mikesell is an elite three-point shooter, knocking down 48% of her attempts from behind the arc. What’s more, not only are Mikesell’s 134 three-point field goal attempts first in the Big Ten, she also holds the best percentage in the conference. The former Terp (2018-20), who transferred to Ohio State from Oregon this season, also has a case to be a 50/40/90 member, with shooting percentages of 47/48/89.

“She’s such a good player,” guard Katie Benzan said of Mikesell. “We’re excited for the competition, to play against her. It’ll be fun.”

Rebeka Mikulášiková, junior forward, 6-foot-4, No. 23 — In her junior season with the Buckeyes, Mikulášiková has blossomed into a reliable third option behind Sheldon and Mikesell. Mikulášiková is averaging 10.9 points and leads the team with 6.4 rebounds per game. The Slovakia international also is only one of three players — along with Sheldon and Mikesell — to start every game this year.

Strength

Offense. With two of the division’s top scorers on its roster, Ohio State leads the Big Ten in scoring (83.6), field goal percentage (48.2) and three-point percentage (40.1). The only place the Buckeyes struggle is at the line — the team collectively makes just 71.4 of its free-throw attempts, which is eighth in the division.

“They lead the conference in points per game and the three-point percentage, so it’s one of the things that we’ve been constantly working on,” Blair said on limiting Ohio State from deep. “It’s just something that we’ve been focusing on and working on our defense and just trying to be really intentional about cleaning it up.”

Weakness

Depth. If a team can manage to limit Sheldon and Mikesell to below their averages — or keep them close to it — the rest of the team has struggled to support its leading scorers. In its two conference losses to No. 6 Indiana and No. 8 Michigan, Ohio State’s two-headed monster combined for 38 and 51 points, respectively. The rest of the team put up 28 and 20 points in those losses.

Three things to watch

1. Which team will win the three-point battle? It’s not often a team has a more potent three-point shooter than Katie Benzan, but Ohio State breaks the mold. Mikesell is just one of seven players with a better shooting percentage from deep than Benzan. Ohio State also has a better team percentage than Maryland, the fifth-best team from deep.

2. How will No. 12 Maryland look after a tough loss? This season, aside from the Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Championship, every time Maryland has lost a game, the team rebounds and wins its next match. After suffering a 20-point loss at home against Michigan this past weekend, the Terps will be looking to refocus and best a talented Ohio State squad hoping to hand Maryland a loss for the second straight year.

“I don’t think we could wait to get back on the court and compete again, kind of redeem ourselves from the last game,” Blair said. “We’ve been working really hard in practice and kind of fixing some things and tweaking a few things and holding ourselves accountable to get better on the defensive end.”

3. Can the Terps control the paint? It’s no secret that sophomore “big guard” Angel Reese is one of the most dominant players in college basketball. She leads the nation with 5.4 offensive boards per game and is a consistent double-double player in the post. Her 17.6 points and 10.7 rebounds lead the Terps. The Buckeyes lost a lot of height after 6-foot-5 forward Dorka Juhász transferred to UConn this season, leaving Mikulášiková as the tallest player on the roster. Still, defense isn’t Mikulášiková’s strength — she only has 11 blocks in 16 games — so Reese could be in for a big game.