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In an all too familiar theme for the Terps, they built a 17 point first half lead on 58% shooting.  Dave Neal had the first 5 points of the game before taking an elbow above the eye and missing the rest of the half.  Adrian Bowie had 13 of his 17 points in the first half, and Eric Hayes had 8 points in the first half.  It looked as if though they were finally going to run away with one.  Then game the second half.   MD went on one of its patented offensive slumps and only scored two points in the first 7 minutes of the second half.  With Just under 5 minutes left, and Virginia down only two points,  Dave Neal hit another huge three pointer to put the Terps back up by 5.  I continue to question that part of our offense, but that is three games in a row, where he has hit absolutely huge 3′s to stop the bleeding or even put the Terps up.  The second half Landon Milbourne asserted himself on the boards.   He finished with only 5 boards,  but I feel like most of them were late.  He again had one huge offensive rebound that led to a put back.  In the final minute the Terps were able to seal the win by going 10-10 at the free throw line.  For the game they shot 21-24, and that may have been the difference in the 84-78 win.  This improves the Terps to 2-2 in the conference and 13-5 overall.  They still have a long way to go, but this was a big win, in a game that they just could not lose. 

Random thoughts on the game.  Eric Hayes had his first career double-double with 10 points and 11 assists.  Most importantly zero turnovers.  For the game anyway, he cured the turnover problem that concerned me earlier.

Sean Mosley.  Since I missed the first 10 minutes of the game with the technical difficulties, I don’t know if anything was said about Sean Mosley, but he did not play at all in the first half.  I am guessing it was some sort of a disciplinary action.  I hope that is the end of that, if it was indeed disciplinary!

Dino Gregory had 6 points in the first half.  It seemed everything was going well in the first half and DIno was no different.  Any points we get from him are a bonus, as I am counting on rebounding and defense as his role.

Landon Milbourne had 17 points, and was clutch in the second half.  I was surprised to see he had 17 points.  He scores, without dominating the ball, or forcing the offense.  He picks his spots and was money at the free throw line.

Greivis Vasquez had 16 poins, and only attempted two three pointers.  He played within himself and the offense.  I always like to be pleasantly surprised when you see a players point totals.  I did not think he had that many points.  To me that just says you are just playing in the offense.

Jin Soo Kim contributed some nice minutes while Neal was out in the first half.  You can see he knows the game.  He just needs some time to adjust to the speed of the game.

Braxton Dupree missed a couple of easy baskets, but did provide some good minutes.  Every once in awhile he shows you a nice post move, only to look like a fish out of water the next time down the court.  Hopefully sometime it will all come together for him.

Adrian Bowie was again a force taking the ball to the basket.  I think the key stat for him was 3, as in only 3 personal fouls.  He set the tone early as the Terps took the big first half lead.  He has been a pleasant surprise all season, and he has only elevated his game in ACC play.

Well that is all I have time for now, but I will try to add some more later.  It was a win they had to have and they some how managed to hang on this time.  Enjoy, a trip to Cameron Indoor looms on Saturday.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 21st, 2009 at 5:34 am and is filed under Maryland Terps Basketball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.