Terps crush NAIA Northwood

The game didn't really matter. The Terps didn't seem to care.

In its only exhibition game of the preseason, the Terrapin men's basketball team trounced NAIA Northwood Saturday afternoon at Comcast Center, displaying an effort and intensity usually reserved for regular season contests.

With a 104-60 victory, the Terps established that, even in a game that doesn't matter from a standings standpoint, they don't plan on easing up, regardless of the competition level.

"Let's face it, we should have better players than a [NAIA] team, and we did," coach Gary Williams said. "The best players usually win, but we didn't let that fact get to us. We still played with a great deal of effort for 40 minutes. That's the effort we need to be good."

"Last year we didn't play as well against the lesser teams, so we wanted to come out and take it to them right away, which we did," guard Eric Hayes added. "We started both halves very well."

Even without last year's leading scorer Greivis Vasquez, who was suspended for violating a team policy, the Terps' offense thrived.

Forward Landon Milbourne looked quicker and hungrier than anybody else on the court, and got the team rolling from the start. Milbourne was responsible for nine of the Terps' first 16 points, as he gushed of confidence against a team that simply couldn't slow him down.

"I just wanted to be one of the guys to set the tone early, lead by example," said Milbourne, a tri-captain who tied for a team-high 20 points on 9-15 shooting.

While Milbourne got it done in the first half, the story of the second half was freshman Jin Soo Kim, who, because of an admissions holdup, wasn't even officially on the Terps roster until last Monday.

Early on, the 6-foot-8 swingman looked nervous and out of synch, missing his first five shots and overplaying his defensive assignments.

But the scattered crowd, who seemed enamored with Kim from the moment he entered the game, still buzzed each time the South Korean held the ball and exploded when he finally hit his groove after halftime.

In the second half, Kim hit from inside and outside and scored 18 of his 20 total points, as fans shouted his name in repetition.

"He's the new thing; crowds like that," Williams said. "He was pretty nervous early, and everything was real quick for him. I think he just settled down at little bit at halftime. Plus, he put [the ball] on the floor more; he didn't just depend on his jump shot like he did in the first half."

On a Kim three-point play, the Terps reached the 100-point milestone - a feat they never achieved last season. The Terps were unselfish and used good ball movement to get five players - Milbourne, Kim, Cliff Tucker, Eric Hayes and Adrian Bowie - scoring in double figures.

Northwood boasted three seven-footers to contend with, but the undersized Terps still dominated the glass 47-29 and didn't allow the Seahawks' forwards to make an impact offensively.

"If our big guys get us the ball and play good interior defense, we'll be fine," Williams said. "There's no pressure on any inside player to score a ton of points this year."

In Vasquez's absence, Hayes, Bowie and Tucker split the point guard duties and combined for 48 points, 12 assists and three turnovers.

The Terps were virtually error-proof, shooting more than 50 percent from the field, hitting 25-28 free throws and committing 11 turnovers as a team.

The team will resume practice Monday in preparation for its first official game, Friday against Bucknell. Luckily for the Terps, they have a big performance to build on.

"We've been playing in front of nobody for the last couple months, so it's great to go out there and see fans out there," Hayes said. "I'm glad we could put on a little bit of a show for them tonight."

Even in an exhibition game, the Terps certainly put on an exhibition.

Terp Note: Sean Mosley was the only dressed Terp not to see action Saturday. Mosley suffered a low ankle sprain last week in practice when he landed on teammate Greivis Vasquez's foot, coming down after a rebound attempt. Williams said that Mosley would have definitely played on Saturday if it had been a regular season game.

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