Sean Mosley caught the ball near the edge of the foul line with his back to a Villanova defender and the hoop early in the second half of Sunday’s BB&T Classic at Verizon Center.

It certainly wasn’t the type of spot where the Terrapins’ sophomore guard would normally be considered a scoring threat, especially for a player who shot just 37 percent as a freshman.

But Mosley turned and hoisted a shot, ending up on his bottom as the ball sunk through the basket. The tricky attempt capped a run of seven points in a less than 1:30 span for Mosley as part of a career night in a 95-86 loss to the No. 3 Wildcats.

Mosley’s 26-point effort on 11-of-14 shooting against the Big East preseason favorites was just the latest example of a stunningly quick personal transformation from hard-working grinder to respected scorer in just one offseason.

Amid the team’s unmet early season expectations, Mosley, with a team-leading 14.8 points per game on a blistering 64 percent shooting, has been an overwhelming bright spot. After earning a starting role in the second half of last season with his defense and toughness despite scoring just 5.3 points per game, Mosley has seamlessly taken the next step toward something bigger.

“I did all the hustle plays and made the passes last year — that’s what got me in the game,” Mosley said earlier this season. “But now I let the game come to me, and it feels a lot better.”

Most of the hype early this season has been on Mosley’s much-improved shooting stroke.

That, indeed, came from hard work, including long sessions working with a shooting gun, an apparatus that can feed passes to a practicing shooter in succession.

But Mosley, who spent time in August playing with the Global Sports Academy Team USA All-Stars in Europe, said that wasn’t all he did.

Traditionally, he had focused on improving a specific area of his game each offseason. Heading into this season, the Baltimore product opted for a more eclectic approach, helped by the workouts designed by strength and conditioning coach Paul Ricci.

The results have been instant and obvious, even if coach Gary Williams — who this preseason quipped that he did not recruit Mosley as a shooter — never worried about the 6-foot-4 guard.

“I thought he needed to work on his shooting to be a good college player, but I thought he could do everything else,” Williams said. “Some people felt that there wasn’t a position for him, but sometimes that means he can play three positions.”

Even while often being asked to lock down the opposing team’s best guard and at times play the power forward position in a four-guard lineup, Mosley’s offense has flourished

With guard Greivis Vasquez struggling to find his shot so far this season, Mosley has provided a reliable mid-range game as a necessary scoring option.

His trademark toughness has translated to the offensive end, as shown by a first-half play against the Wildcats in which he knocked the ball away from preseason Wooden Award candidate Scottie Reynolds and finished with a 15-foot jump shot in transition.

Mosley dished out a career-high 10 assists in his first career double-double in a win against New Hampshire on Nov. 20. And the former high school forward has hit more 3-pointers already this season (6) than he did all of last season (5).

“Last year, I’m sure a lot of scouting reports were you could help off Sean a lot onto me and Greivis and the other shooters,” guard Eric Hayes said. “This year, they can’t play off as much on Sean because he’s going to make those shots.”

Williams has been quick to point out that Mosley battled through an ankle injury for most of last season that made it hard to get proper lift on his jump shots.

Now, he’s fully healthy and trying to show that he can sustain his hot start into the ACC season.

Mosley said he’s noticed defenders respecting his offensive game. But before the Villanova game, he seemed just as excited about his newfound opportunity to set his teammates up for more open shots.

Perhaps most impressively, Mosley’s improvement, which has been evident since the Terps’ first public workouts, has allowed him to quickly shed the supporting role he played last season and prove he can pose an offensive threat on a team with a roster that has hardly changed from last season.

“I was kinda frustrated, angry at myself because I’m a better basketball player than that,” Mosley said of his first year as a Terp.

After Mosley particularly impressed during a preseason scrimmage, Vasquez outlined Mosley’s importance to the team, reciting a long list of ways Mosley could score and succeed in the flex offense.

“That’s expecting a lot of things from Sean this year,” said Vasquez, who has been known to hyperbolize. “But he worked hard the whole summer, and he deserves to have a great season.”

With each jumper and tricky finish around the basket Mosley makes, that assessment is looking less brash than ever.

edetweiler@umdbk.com