Last night was reminiscent of the 2017 Maryland win without Adams. Lots of factors that on paper would seem like too much to overcome against a P5 in a tournament setting, but grinding it out.
We need Pride and Venning to play smarter tonight to have any chance. Venning's 4th foul was maddening- get beat on position for a defensive rebound, with an immediate foul on the put-back. Brown is every bit the defender or rebounder in a backup role, but the offense has a higher gear with Chad out there. Obviously the same is true for Pride on the floor.
Last night showed to me Barry needs a bigger role, which will probably come at the expense of Flowers and/or Luc. The way this team is built, when Flowers is back it'll be redundant to have Flowers and Banks on the floor together, off ball. The only way it makes sense is if Banks slides to backup PG with Flowers at the 2. Through 3 games, to me it's clear that ensuring that some combination of 2 of Barry/Pride/Assa are always on the floor. The guards we have don't have the ruggedness needed to play smaller, 3 guard sets effectively. I'd love to see what all 3 of them on the floor together looks like, but that will only happen if Banks or MAW gets into foul trouble.