Mark Turgeon
Mark Turgeon had a simple question for his Terrapins men’s basketball team moments before tipoff against No. 14 North Carolina State on Wednesday night. The second-year coach wanted to know why his players chose this university. Was it the history? The coaching staff?
After listening to a couple Terps’ answers, Turgeon provided his own. He came to do great things — to win big games, to add a banner to those Comcast Center rafters. And he was getting a bit anxious. The Terps, after all, hadn’t notched a statement win since Greivis Vasquez led them to a March 3, 2010, win over Duke.
That changed Wednesday. With Turgeon’s question still lingering in their minds, the Terps overcame a stagnant shooting night and a physical Wolfpack defense to escape Comcast with a 51-50 victory over the ACC’s preseason favorite. As the final buzzer sounded, the student section streamed onto the hardwood before a national television audience.
“The crowd was incredible,” Len said. “It was just energy.”
That Hallmark moment resulted from a botched play. Moments earlier, Turgeon called a timeout to draw up his squad’s final shot. The Terps were supposed to set an up-screen for Len, giving the big man a chance at the game-winning basket.
But directions can become a bit murky for Turgeon’s youthful group. The Terps ran a down-screen, and Pe’Shon Howard — who came off the bench for the second straight contest after a string of inconsistent performances — had the ball in his hands during the game’s most critical moment. He dribbled into the lane and found Len for a tip-in with 0.9 seconds remaining.
N.C. State didn’t manage a shot on its ensuing possession, and coach Mark Gottfried’s team was forced to make the five-hour trek home with no noteworthy follow-up to Saturday’s win over then-No. 1 Duke.
“We got a little bit lucky,” said Turgeon, whose Terps lost to 17 straight ranked teams before Wednesday. “But we’ll take it.”
After struggling to find the net in losses to Florida State and Miami, the Terps (14-3, 2-2 ACC) couldn’t fix their offensive woes against a physical N.C. State (14-3, 2-2 ACC) team. They shot just 34.4 percent from the field and finished 3-of-18 from beyond the arc. Len, who scored six of his 10 points in the final five minutes, was the lone Terp to finish in double figures.
But a suffocating defense helped gloss over a host of offensive miscues. N.C. State, which entered Wednesday’s matchup ranked eighth nationally with 81.5 points per game, managed less than 60 points for just the second time this season. The Wolfpack didn’t manage a basket over the game’s opening five minutes, allowing the Terps to jump to an early 10-0 lead.
Forward Richard Howell scored N.C. State’s first bucket on a layup 6:10 into regulation, and the Wolfpack rattled off a 13-4 run to cut the deficit to 14-13 with seven minutes left in the half. The Terps missed 16 straight field goals — many of which came from point-blank range — over a more than 10-minute drought, but the Terps never relinquished their lead.
When the Terps entered the break with a 22-16 edge, neither team boasted a shooting clip above 30 percent.
“I don’t know what the problem is offensively,” Turgeon said. “I thought we executed better tonight. I thought we were much more patient. We just couldn’t finish, and we’re not getting to the foul line.”
The Terps seemed to finally find an offensive rhythm in the early stages of the second half, eventually taking a 42-32 advantage on a Dez Wells layup with 9:33 remaining. But then a potent Wolfpack attack finally exploded. N.C. State reeled off a 12-3 run, and forward Scott Wood’s 3-pointer with 4:35 left notched its first lead, 48-45.
After Len tallied four straight points, though, Wolfpack guard Lorenzo Brown hit a clutch jumper with 1:39 remaining to give Gottfried’s squad a one-point advantage.
A few weeks ago, that easily would’ve been the game. After all, the Terps — who started five underclassmen against veteran-laden N.C. State — were still learning how to win close games. They missed potential game-winners in narrow losses to Kentucky and Florida State earlier this year, and often seemed out-of-control in crucial scenarios.
Yet it was the Terps with the game-clinching bucket Wednesday. It was the Terps celebrating in the locker room before postgame interviews. And it was the Terps with the much-needed statement win.
“This win is going to help us a lot,” guard Nick Faust said. “Having a win like this is good for us, especially since it was the first big win in awhile.”
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