Ex-Maryland star Terrell Stoglin calls watching this year’s team ‘a joke’

It wasn't just Maryland fans who were unimpressed after the Terps scored just 14 first-half points in Sunday night's ugly 54-47 loss at Miami.

The leading scorer on last year's team also couldn't believe how much his ex-teammates were struggling to get baskets.

Frustration after a two-game losing streak is understandable, but it was tactless of Stoglin to publicly call out his ex-teammates. The last thing a young Maryland team facing its first real adversity of the season needs is a former player piling on and adding to the pressure to turn things around.

At the same time, Stoglin is right. The Terps are struggling on offense right now, and it's hard to watch.

Since reeling off 13 straight wins against very modest competition, Maryland has come back to earth with a thud. The Terps held Florida State to 37 percent shooting Wednesday and Miami to 35 percent Sunday, yet lost both games because their own offense was even more out of sync.

The primary culprit for Maryland is its backcourt, especially guards Pe'Shon Howard and Nick Faust. In the last six games, Faust is averaging 5.8 points per game on 36.1 percent shooting from the field and Howard is averaging 4.6 points per game on 28.7 percent shooting.

Maryland coach Mark Turgeon actually replaced Howard with Seth Allen in Sunday's starting lineup, but the change did little to reverse the team's fortunes.

In the first half, Maryland shot 6 of 28 from the field, turned the ball over eight times and once again got little production from its backcourt. Though big man Alex Len and forward Dez Wells combined for an efficient 34 points, Faust, Allen, Howard and reserve guard Logan Aronhalt combined for a mere nine points on 4 of 25 shooting with just one made 3-pointer between them.

It was enough to make Maryland fans nostalgic for Stoglin,who is currently playing professionally in Greece after averaging 21.6 points per game as a sophomore last season. Last year's Maryland team wasn't as talented as this year's team and it didn't make the NCAA tournament, but at least it did have a go-to perimeter scorer.