BALTIMORE — Maryland men’s basketball entered Monday’s season opener with plenty of uncertainty surrounding the program.
A one-point victory in its exhibition and the questions surrounding several key players’ availability left fans unaware of what to expect from the new roster.
After a sluggish start to the second half, Maryland found its groove, cruising to an 83-61 win at CFG Bank Arena.
“I thought there was more continuity on both sides of the ball,” coach Buzz Williams said. I thought at times, our execution on what we want to do was more apparent. I think the guys that were on the court were at least trending in the same direction.”
Monday marked the official start of the Buzz Williams era for Maryland men’s basketball. The Terps’ roster is unrecognizable from the team fans grew to love a season ago after a Sweet 16 appearance.
Williams had similar success last season at Texas A&M, leading his squad to a round of 32 appearance. His teams have been known for emphasizing the dirty work. Defense, rebounding, and outworking the opponent on every play are what the 19th-year suit-wearing head coach expects from his teams.
On Monday, 15 new players donned the red, black, and gold for the first time — ten transfers and five true freshmen. Growing pains were expected with so many new players, which was evident in the second half. After a strong first half offensively, the lack of on-court experience let Coppin State hang around.
The Eagles came out of halftime with an 8-1 run and cut their deficit to as low as seven points. Every shot looked difficult for the Terps, as the struggle to find good looks led to late shot clock contested heaves.
To combat the shooting struggles, the Terps focused on scoring easy two-pointers and earning free points from the line.
Pharrel Payne was the catalyst for the Terps in the second half. The senior imposed his will on Eagle defenders. He used his 6’9 frame to muscle through defenders for layups — and made defenders pay at the line. He scored 21 points — 15 coming in the second half — and shot a perfect 9-9 from the stripe as the Terps’ lead stretched as high as 30.
Darius Adams, a consensus top-25 recruit, added to the aggression. The true freshman lived up to his ranking and got things going off the dribble. He attacked his defenders for multiple tough scores in the lane and showcased his ability to get to the free-throw line, going 10-12.
“I think a timeout [coach] called kind of changed the way we were thinking about the game,” Adams said. “Things kind of went our way a little bit more, and we’re just locked in.”
Williams’ teams have not been known to shoot the three-ball very well or often, but that wasn’t the case on Monday. Redshirt freshman Andre Mills and graduate David Coit let fly from downtown. The duo combined for five first-half threes; the team shot 47% in the first half. The three-ball fell less often in the second half, but the team still shot 34.5% on the day on 29 attempts, but that is not expected to be the Terps style.
“I would say that’s not what we’ll end up being able to do, nor what we would want,” Williams said about the three point attempts. “Im glad we made some that may help us, but that those ones that we were shooting were coming out of rotation, and that rotation we weren’t getting in the second half, and we were still shooting them. That was against what we’re trying to create.”
The Terps will have a quick turnaround before they face a tougher Georgetown team in their home opener at 7:00 on Friday.
