COLUMBUS, Ohio — Maryland sophomore forward Jake Layman has created a lot of early-season buzz among NBA scouts because of his ability to shoot it long-range and his improved floor game.
Projected as a potential first-round pick by many mock drafts for 2015, Layman has the kind of game that translates to the NBA. He also showed Wednesday night why he is a work-in-progress.
Coming off a season-high 27 points in Friday's win over Morgan State in College Park, Layman struggled in Maryland's 76-60 loss here to No. 5 Ohio State.
Layman, who came in averaging a team-high 16.4 points a game, finished with two points on 1-for-9 shooting in 32 minutes.
The normally soft-spoken Layman even picked up his first technical foul as a Terp after being posterized by a high-flying Sam Thompson on an alley-oop dunk early in the second half.
"They did a great job on Jake," Maryland coach Mark Turgeon said after one of his more dissapointing efforts in his three years. "They were aware of Jake, Jake couldn't get going. [He] missed some open looks too."
Layman, who was 0-for-5 on 3-pointers, was not alone in his poor shooting. Junior guard Nick Faust finished 2-for-9 from the field, including 1-for-7 on 3-point shots.
Even junior forward Dez Wells missed his first five shots and 6-of-7 in the first half before heating up for a team-high 19 points, most of them moot.
Asked why Layman was not able to get into one of his typical hot shooting streaks as he has in several games this season, Wells had a simple answer.
"The ball didn't go into the basket," Wells said. "A lot of stuff went in for them, a lot of stuff didn't go in for us. That's basketball. It happens. I wouldn't say it wasn't our night. We still could have executed a lot better and defended a lot better. We're just going to watch film and get better from this game."