Turtledroppings.com – Maryland Football And Basketball Blog

This game truly was a tale of two halves.  We were able to join the game in progress thanks to UVA fighting to the bitter end in a game they were down by 12 points with 30 something seconds left.  When we finally joined the live action, Maryland was down 8 to 4 I believe.  Charlotte was dropping three pointers at will.  The Charlotte lead would grow to 11 less than 5 minutes in the game.  My Dad sent me a text to make sure I was aware the game was on.  I said it didn’t look good.  He had more faith, and said it was early.  I just had a feeling it was going to be one of those days.  Maryland was able to cut the lead to one at 21-20, but UNCC pushed the lead back up to 8 with about 7 minutes or so left in the half.  Maryland then made a nice run, with Vasquez on the bench.  Cliff Tucker made some big plays, most notably the three pointer that was before his steal and assist for another 3 on a fastbreak to Sean Mosley to tie the game at 32.  Charlotte would hit a three with about 7 seconds left, but Eric Hayes found his way inside the arc for a floater that kept Charlotte’s lead to 3 before the half. 

The second half saw an inspired defensive effort, and hot shooting start.  Eric Hayes and Vasquez both made some early three’s and you could see something starting to build.  The second half was display of good half court offense, great full court defense, good transition offense.  There wasn’t much to complain about as the Terps built a 21 point lead with about 6 minutes left.  The one complaint you could have about the second half was they let that lead get down 10 as the game ended 85-75.  I know that is petty, but none of us will forget watching that Clemson lead at home disappear while we sat in horror in Atlantic City.  Vasquez was the leading scorer with 27 points.  He took some ill advised shots, but we are going to have to live with some poor decisions, to go along with the all the good things he does.  There is no doubt he makes this team go.  Milbourne added 13, Hayes 10, Bowie 10, and Mosley 11.  Mosley looked much more comfortable with his shot,  he makes good choices, and plays defense pretty well for a freshman.  He is going to have his ups and downs, but today was a good look at what we have gotten.  I for one was down on him early, but you can see signs of his play catching up.  Another positive was the contributions from Cliff Tucker.  He has the ability to be a major contributor on this team this year.  If he does what he did yesterday, things might turn out a little better than anticipated this year. 

An interesting point was made yesterday during the game by Glen Consor in regards to MD using a small lineup.  He said the other team is going to have to adjust to MD, and guard out further on Milbourne, etc. etc. .  I think that was a good comment.  When you look at the fact MD beat Charlotte 25-6 on fastbreak points, you can see that point with some merit.  When I disagreed with him was when he said Carolina was going to have to adjust.  I don’t see it mattering with them.  UNC takes the ball out of the basket or turns missed baskets into fastbreak points.  Ty Lawson has to be the fastest player I have ever seen while dribbling.  That is one team I don’t see it mattering with.  Then you look at the game at UNC last year, and that is why we love College Basketball.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 4th, 2009 at 10:36 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.