Maryland men’s basketball returned to Xfinity Tuesday night to face a relatively unknown opponent in Alcorn State. 

The Terps lead was just six at halftime after nine minutes of no field goal makes, but responded with 51 points in the second half to earn a 84-64 victory at Xfinity Center. 

Here are the takeaways from the game. 

Inconsistent offensive stretches

Maryland jumped out to a quick 19-point lead in the first half, but sloppy play let Alcorn State hang around.

The Terps committed ten first-half turnovers and made zero field goals in the final nine minutes. The Braves were within six points at the half in a game that was never supposed to be close. 

“The first 10 minutes, a lot of what we want to accomplish was happening on both ends of the floor,” Williams said. “Then it really drastically changed from an execution to stamina standpoint.”

The drought extended into the second half — over 11 minutes of game time — before Pahrrel Payne scored a put-back layup to get the Terps offense rolling.

But despite Williams’ comments about the volume of three-point attempts likely to decrease, Maryland has shot 20 plus in all three games — but it hasn’t shot it well. The Terps shot 8-for-28 on Tuesday, thanks to some late-game makes with the game out of hand, but didn’t have the same luck throughout. 

The team’s strength is not shooting three-pointers, but the Terps continued to force them up. They shot 2-for-14 from deep in the first half, with many attempts coming out of the flow of the offense as the team struggled to score. 

Maryland ended the day shooting 50 percent from the field (28-for-56), but against top teams, extended offensive stretches without a field goal will cost them wins. 

Frequent substitutions

With an entirely new roster coming into the season, it was expected that Maryland would try different lineups to see which works best. With several key players injured early this season, the Terps have had to go deeper into their bench. 

Against Alcorn State on Tuesday, that meant a short leash for every player on the court. 

Head coach Buzz Williams wasted no time making substitutions. Junior Isaiah Watts replaced Andre Mills just 57 seconds in, which remained a consistent theme throughout the game. 

The Terps continued to shuffle their players around in the first half, with 30 total in the first 20 minutes. Nine players entered the game in the first nine minutes, playing a new lineup at nearly every dead ball and for every scenario. George Turkson Jr. checked in for a defensive rebound opportunity, then was removed without a second logged on the statsheet. 

Williams noted that the team is trying to find five guys who play hard on the court together and adjust his substitutions based on how the players look on the court — but haven’t figured out how they’ll do that yet. 

“We really would like to get to where we could have seven [or] eight, tough, smart, dependable guys that are all pulling in the same direction, regardless of position,” Williams said. 

Free throws remain the bread and butter

With all of the uncertainty around this year’s team, one thing has remained constant for the Terps’ first three games — free throw volume. 

Maryland shot 20-for-27 (74.1%) from the line Tuesday after a 5-for-11 start. Half of its points were scored from the stripe against Georgetown last Friday, and the high free-throw attempts are to be expected throughout the season. 

“It’ll be a cheat code for us,” Williams said about getting to the line. Darius Adams highlights this style for the Terps. The freshman has shot just 26.9% from the field, but has made a huge impact at the free-throw line — shooting 81.3% while on 5.3 attempts per game. 

Among the offensive struggles and periods of inconsistency, getting to the foul line is the best way to stay in games, while ideally keeping the opponent off the line as well. 

“I think tonight’s [second] half was the first time in the six halves that we’ve played that the opponent didn’t get in the bonus much better at getting to the rim,” Williams said. “Can we play to get fouled, which means get the defense in rotation, and then defensively, can we play without fouling?”

The answer to that will likely dictate how well the Terps will do this season and their ability to contend with top teams in their schedule.