Grading Out Maryland’s Performance Against UNC Wilmington

Similar to our weekly Testudos that we give out to the football team following their (ultimately disappointing) performances on the gridiron, we’re also going to hand out (de)merits to Maryland’s men’s basketball team after their games. Instead of handing out Testudos, however, we’ve got Greivis Shimmies. Let’s hand them out for Maryland’s 71-62 season-opening victory over UNC Wilmington.

Five Greivis Shimmies :

James Padgett and Ashton Pankey. The two big men were very impressive against an undersized UNC Wilmington squad, combining for 25 points and 15 rebounds with only two turnovers. Padgett set career highs with 12 points and two assists, and at times looked unstoppable on the inside, finishing six of seven from the floor. Pankey chipped in with 13 points and eight rebounds in 32 minutes, and made all three of his free throw attempts. The two Big P’s helped Maryland outrebound the Seahawks 36-30, and held the UNCW starting forwards to a combined 13 points.

Four Greivis Shimmies :

Terrell Stoglin, Nick Faust, and Mark Turgeon. Stoglin was his usual Stoglin self, scoring 22 points but also making some poor decisions that resulted in three turnovers. This was actually the first time Stogs has scored at least 20 in a non-conference game (he did it three times last year in ACC play). Even though he didn’t start, he led the Terps in minutes with 33 and made key free throws, finishing 10-11 from the line. Faust was an absolute force defensively, shutting down Adam Smith in the second half and getting three steals in the first five minutes of the game. He only had seven points on one of four shooting, but didn’t make too many egregious errors as a freshman playing out of position at point guard, and again was just fantastic on the defensive end. For Turgeon, it was a good debut, with a fairly comfortable win over an inferior opponent. The team struggled with ball control and foul trouble, but both of those problems were far improved from the exhibition against Northwood.

Three Greivis Shimmies :

Sean Mosley. The senior got off to a fast start scoring the ball and rebounding, but slowed down significantly as the game went on. He finished with eight points and six rebounds, but his game-high four turnovers were very troubling. Mosley handled a good-amount of the point duties, even though Faust was technically the starting point guard, and he didn’t look entirely comfortable in the role. Where he shone, however, was in defense. Faust and Mosley were both fantastic, and the senior had a career-high three blocks.

Two Greivis Shimmies :

Mychal Parker and Berend Weijs. Parker started at shooting guard, and displayed both his athleticism and his still raw game. In 24 minutes, he had five points with three rebounds and one assist against two turnovers, and shot two of four from the field. He gets bonus points for two of those points coming off a great alley-oop from Mosley. Parker’s got a whole ton of talent, but there’s still quite a bit of work left to go. In only eleven minutes, Weijs looked pretty good, scoring four points (with the best solo dunk of the night) and recording two steals while proving to be a problem for the smaller UNCW team. However, the senior had four fouls in just eleven minutes, and was forced to sit out much of the game.

N/A:

John Auslander and Jonathan Thomas. These were the two walk-ons who saw playing time, but it wasn’t much. Auslander played five minutes, recording two fouls and no other stats. Thomas played four minutes, with one foul and one missed three-point attempt from NBA range.