Despite slow starts, men's basketball finishing strong

At Penn State on Wednesday night, the Terrapin men's basketball team did not score for almost five minutes after the opening tip-off.

But at the final buzzer, it was up by 23 points.

Against Elon on Nov. 26, the Terps trailed by 11 points midway through the first half.

But again, they ended up winning handily, 76-57.

Sluggish starts have regularly become part of the storyline in Terp wins this season. Against an inferior Nittany Lions squad Wednesday, they again ultimately withstood an early funk.

But against stronger squads — such as Temple, whom the Terps face Sunday in the BB&T Classic at Verizon Center — they might not be as fortunate. A preseason top-25 team, the Owls (4-2) have yet to allow 60 points in a game this season. If the Terp offense falters early and the team falls behind, the Owls will make it tough to make up ground.

"We can't have lapses in terms of how we come out, either at the start of the game or the second half," coach Gary Williams said. "[Often,] you don't have the luxury of not playing well for the first eight or 10 minutes of the game. You have to come out ready to play."

Several times this year, though, the Terps have needed a surge to overcome slow starts.

In their season opener against Seattle, the Terps managed just two points in the first four minutes. After that, though, they opened the floodgates in a 105-76 win against the Redhawks.

The Terps had trouble gaining traction on both ends of the court against Elon. By halftime, they still hadn't fully recovered from their slow start, trailing by three points at home. A solid start to the second half later ensured a comfortable 19-point victory.

And against Penn State, the Terps ultimately produced one of the more comfortable results of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Helped by the Nittany Lions' abysmal shooting night — despite their own woeful start, the Terps' greatest deficit was seven points thanks to the Lions' 3-for-11 showing from the field — they had only a small bit of ground to make up.

"I was concerned," forward Dino Gregory said. "We weren't running plays that were working."

The slow start irked Williams, who was forced to burn a timeout just 3:40 into the game to rally his team, which at that point had five more turnovers than points scored.

"I hate calling timeouts to tell the team they have to play well," Williams said. "To me, that's not what timeouts are for."

The Terps had focused on starting strong and avoiding early-game deficits in practice after their game against Elon, but they didn't see many results Wednesday. The hope for Sunday, though, is to play as well in the first 10 minutes of the game as they have shown to do in the last 30.

"We definitely talk about working on just coming out with more intensity, more passion," guard Adrian Bowie said. "Before every game, it's just mentally preparing for a war."

TERP NOTES: Forward Jordan Williams left the court bleeding after being hit on the scalp against Penn State, but the injury is not serious. The cut required a few stitches, according to coach Gary Williams.

Walk-on forward Ersin Levent has mononucleosis, a team spokesman announced. Levent did not travel to Penn State and will be out for a few weeks.

kyanchulis@umdbk.com