Satisfying Morsell
Junior comes off bench to give Terps a big 1st-half lift
COLLEGE PARK — Maryland men’s basketball coach Mark Turgeon said Monday that he wasn’t sure about his starting lineup, partly because one player he thought would be in it had gone through the motions at practice and partly because of the depth his No. 7 Terps brought into 2019-20 season.
It still isn’t clear about whom Turgeon was talking.
One thing is apparent after Tuesday night’s 95-71 win over Holy Cross at Xfinity Center: Junior guard Darryl Morsell and the rest of those who began the opener on the bench showed how many options Turgeon has at his disposal.
A starter for most of his first two seasons, the former Mount Saint Joseph star helped spark Maryland at both ends, scoring 12 of his 15 points in the first half. Morsell scored half of those first-half points in succession, giving the Terps the lead for good at 23-22 and pushing the halftime lead to 51-39.
Morsell also had five rebounds and four assists.
Morsell’s high school teammate, sophomore forward Jalen Smith, overcame a slow start to finish with 16 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks. Senior guard Anthony Cowan Jr., making his 100th straight career start, finished with12 points and five assists. Sophomore guard Eric Ayala also scored 12 points.
Drew Lowder, a freshman guard generously listed at 6 feet, finished with a game-high 24 points and five assists for Holy Cross.
Cold start from 3
Turgeon said his Terps had been shooting 3s at a high rate in practice after going 6-for-19 in last Friday’s exhibition victory over Division II Fayetteville State. Maryland shot even worse against the Crusaders, going 5-for-27.
Sophomore wing Aaron Wiggins, who Turgeon has said is the team’s best 3-point shooter, went 0-for-6. Wiggins got so frustrated after missing a couple of early 3s that he went in for a tomahawk dunk and was fouled.
Wiggins later missed two straight 3s in a matter of seconds standing in the same spot in the left corner. His frustrating night continued when Smith got in his way on what was supposed to be a lob pass from Cowan, then had another potential lob from Cowan fall short.
Instant analysis
If the Terps want to have smaller teams stop slowing down games with zone defenses, they had better start hitting their 3s. The one good thing was that when Maryland broke the game open in the first half, they were getting everything inside.