Terps show more pride with strong second-half effort
Maryland wakes up, storms past visiting Hofstra to move to 4-0
COLLEGE PARK – There wasn't a lot of energy for the Maryland men’s basketball team inside Xfinity Center for the first half of Friday’s night’s game against Hofstra. Not from a small crowd, and certainly not from the Terps themselves.
Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the crowd and Mark Turgeon’s team woke up. Was it sophomore center Bruno Fernando rescuing an air-balled 3point try by sophomore guard Darryl Morsell that wound up with freshman guard Eric Ayala hitting oneofhis own?
Was it Morsell seemingly rising to rafters — or at least over the rim — to nearly dunk in a miss by Ayala?
Or was it freshman guard Aaron Wiggins, after a cold start shooting, making three straight 3s from the same corner?
There was definitely a jolt for the Terps, trailing by four at halftime and by eight early in the second half, turning that energy into an 80-69 victory. Maryland (4-0) finished with a six players in double figures. Fernando, who didn’t start because an undisclosed disciplinary reason, finished with 17 points and seven rebounds, not missing any of the eight field-goal attempts he tried.
Turgeon, whosaid afterward that he was “nervous a little bit” about playing a more experienced team that had more size, quickness and talent than any of Maryland’s previous three opponents, was happy with the way the Terps reacted to their first halftime deficit of the season.
“I was really proud of the way we responded, we established Bruno right away in the second half and it opened things up for everybody else,” Turgeon said. “I thought we executed at a high Maryland forward Bruno Fernando, right, shoots over Hofstra forward Dan Dwyer in the second half. Fernando contributed a team-high 17 points. level. … We were good. I told the guys that they should be really proud of this win. You look around and it’s hard to win.”
Asked whether the hustle play by Fernando and the near one-handed dunk by Morsell, who was fouled on the play and made both free throws after hitting the floor hard, contributed to raising the energy in the building and on the bench, Turgeon smiled.
“We played with great energy in the second half, but those were big,” he said. “Anthony [Cowan Jr.] on the break, Bruno saving that ball and us chasing it down and scoring. And Darryl was a highlight play. I wish the dunk would have went in.”
Said Ayala, whoadded14andhisfirst three 3-pointers of the season: “Just playing tougher. The first half, we [were] not getting on the floor for loose balls. Missing boxouts. We made an emphasis in the second half to come in there and just play harder. It wasn’t no X and O’s type thing. Coach wanted us to be tougher.”
FERNANDO’S IMPROVEMENT: After shooting a team-high 59.2 percent from the field as a freshman — it ranked sixth in the Big Ten and helped him earn all-freshman honors — Fernando is now shooting a ridiculous 82.8 percent this season on 24-for-29 from the field. His 8-for-8 helped him join Lonny Baxter and Gary Williams in the school’s record books.