Gary Williams will ask you not to pass judgment on the Maryland men?s basketball team yet. With just over two weeks of practice and a handful of scrimmages under the Terps? belt, the coach?s request is fair.
After a slim 79-78 win over California University of Pennsylvania (Division II) in their first exhibition game Wednesday, however, there is no doubt that the Terps still need much defensive improvement.
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“I would be more frustrated if we had more practice time,” Williams said. “Sometimes you need this to make a point in practice. It is a matter of how bad you want it and how bad you want to be a good defensive team.”
The Terps fell behind early and played poor perimeter defense, allowing California to shoot 13 for 30 from three-point range. Williams was pleased, though, with the performances of first-year players Eric Hayes, Landon Milbourne and Bambale Osby.
“All three guys, for their first game, did a great job,” Williams said. “There has got to be some nervousness there with the new guys.”
As for the Maryland players, they are trying to use Wednesday?s exhibition opener as a learning tool as they look ahead to Saturday?s exhibition against a Canadian all-star team.
Hayes, who played point guard for Maryland, was comfortable taking the ball down the court but acknowledged that the defense needs to improve.
“They just penetrated and knocked down a lot of threes,” he said. “We need to get out and cover guys.”
For Osby, the transfer forward fromParis (Texas) Junior College, the game was an acclimation tool for what the atmosphere at the Comcast Center will be like in the regular season.
“It was exciting,” he said. “We had a lot more fans, and a lot more students were there. It was exhilarating.”
Excited as he was, he was not shy about pointing out Maryland?s weakest link.
“Defense, defense, defense,” he said. “We gave up way too many three-point shots. We just need to play better defense.”
Senior guard D.J. Strawberry was emphatic on how hard Maryland needs to work to get its defense on track before the regular-season opener against Hampton Tuesday.
“I am going to try my best to be a motivator on this team to get this team to play defense,” Strawberry said. “The season starts in less than a week, and I am not going to worry about scoring anymore. We have to be able to stop people.”
EXHIBITION NUMBERS
» Maryland lost the battle on the boards against California, getting out-rebounded, 30-29.
» Landon Milbourne led the Terps in scoring with 14 points. Bambale Osby added 11, and both D.J. Strawberry and Will Bowers scored 10.
» The Terps shot 48.2 percent from the floor, but made nearly 80 percent of their free throws (19 of 24).
