Finally, some (slightly) meaningful basketball. It was close for a moment, but the Terps enter halftime with a comfortable 44-33 lead. Here are a few thoughts.
> The Freshmen bigs are factoring in early. As we mentioned, Dino Gregory is not in action tonight, and James Padgett was in the starting line up, with classmate Jordan Williams also getting burn. Padgett elicited oohs and ahs from the crowd with a strong tip-slam off a Adrian Bowie miss in transition. He is 2-for-2 from the floor with a pair of rebounds and a pair of blocks. Williams has 3 points on 1-for-2 shooting and three boards.
> Much has been made of Sean Mosley’s assertiveness and overall confidence offensively. After the Saturday’s scrimmage he said he’s been looking for his own offense more than he had a year ago. It’s showing tonight. Mosely hit his first four shots and leads the Terps with 10 points.
> The Terps are working out their press with positive results so far. They have eight steals, and their eight break points point to solid work in transition. Greivis is leading the charge with four steals of his own.
> The shots are falling. The Terps have hit on 19-of-27 (70.4 percent) attempts so far. Obviously this number will come down, but it’s nice to see these guys hitting makeable looks and taking good shots.
How has Hayes looked? What’s the overall shooting %?
Hayes finished with five points on 2-of-5 shooting. He was 1-for-4 from three-point land. Doing the math, I believe that’s 40 and 25 percent, respectively. Also, both his makes came in the first half, which he started.