Turtledroppings.com – Maryland Football And Basketball Blog

It looked like fine times at Comcast Center again tonight.  There was a little more intensity in the building, and a few more fannies in the seats it appeared.  The ACC opener was here, and for the first half it looked the Terps were going to make it a cake walk.

Eric Hayes and Landon Milbourne led the Terps with 11 points a piece.  Hayes was on fire from the outside, while Milbourne was hitting shots in and out of the lane.  I really think the key to half was the ability of the Terps to get those two quick fouls on Solomon Alabi.  The offensive and defensive effort in the first half was as good as we have seen in a while.  Cliff Tucker, Dino Gregory and James Padgett each made some big plays off the bench.

The second half was a different story, as we got to see what Solomon Alabi was able to do down low.  He finished the night with 17 points and 9 boards.  As the Noles cut into Maryland’s big lead with a run early in the half, the Grievis Vasquez show started.  He had a personal 6-0 run that seemed to calm everyone in gold down.  As Vasquez got going, Eric Hayes also helped out with a couple more big baskets to help push the lead back to double digits.  In the end the final score was 77-68 and it was a great team win for the Terps.

You can go up and down the roster and think of a big contribution each player made that had a huge impact.  Jordan Williams did a great job getting defensive rebounds in the second half.  Dino Gregory had a offensive rebound and put back when the game was tight.  James Padgett had 4 points and 4 boards.  Eric Hayes, helped open the floor up with his three point shooting.  Cliff Tucker had some nice baskets early to help the Terps get the big early lead.

So the Terps did what they needed to do.  Win at home, and more importantly, it was against a ranked opponent.  Florida State is going to win games in the ACC this year.  They are a solid team, though I wasn’t sure about the decision not to start fouling a little sooner at the end of the game.  That being said, they are going to have the ability to knock some teams off.

With the short turnaround time, check back soon as we, like the Terps, will quickly be shifting our attention to Wake Forrest.

Extra Droppings

I know a certain someone who co-writes with me, is very excited tonight as the Simpsons turn twenty.  It is quite an impressive feat this day age that they continue putting out a new show, and it never gets stale.  Kudos to Matt Groening.  If nothing else you give my buddy something to look forward to every Sunday night.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 10th, 2010 at 8:29 pm 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.