“We dug ourselves a pretty good hole in the first half, and then came out and played the same way to start the second half, so we subbed. Young guys came in and did a great job of flying around. I told the team after the game it doesn’t have to be perfect you just have to play hard and those guys played hard so I was proud of them. They toughed it out and they could have won the game at the end but we didn’t get it.”
In the game against Temple on Sunday, Maryland seemed to struggle again in the first half and even into the second half as they fell behind by 15 points. However, freshmen Pe’Shon Howard and Terrell Stoglin came off the bench and sparked a 10-0 run to cut the lead. Howard has phenomenal point guard ability but he is prone to freshman lapses in judgment. Stoglin is a gunner (2nd leading scorer in Arizona high school basketball history behind Mike Bibby) but also has the ball stopping capabilities as well spoken of previously.
The thing that stood out from Gary’s quote is the effort and playing hard. Those are two things that Gary Williams has always looked for and expects from his players. When they do not give that, they end up in his doghouse.
I don’t know how the starting lineup from the first nine games of Jordan Williams, Dino Gregory, Cliff Tucker, Sean Mosley, and Adrian Bowie will change and be adjusted as the season progresses. What I do know is that the offense can look disjointed at times as they feed the ball into Williams and then just stand around to see what he does. There needs to be more cutting to the hoop and screens set to get shooters open. Pe’Shon has that ability to break down defenses and drive it to the hoop which could open things up for the team on the offensive end. Each player has abilities to help the team succeed and Gary Williams will find the right blend of minutes and best five on the court to get that from his team.
