Grand opening

Mark Turgeon strode quietly onto the Comcast Center floor last night, walking straight toward the Terrapins men's basketball bench without the attendant farfare the program's coach for the past two decades had commanded.

There would be no fist pump toward the students, and for the next two hours, no fervent yelling from the sidelines or sweat-dripped suits.

Fans in attendance saw a starkly different Terps team from last year's outfit, one featuring four players making their first collegiate start and three new coaches manning Gary Williams' old stomping grounds.

With a dearth of experience at his disposal, Turgeon's opening game wasn't a pretty one, nor was it free of turnovers and offensive struggles. But — as they often did under Williams — the Terps won, flexing their defensive prowess in defeating UNC-Wilmington, 71-62.

"It was another game," Turgeon said. "I've been doing this a long time. It felt really routine for me. I know what I'm up against.

"I didn't feel like we were going to lose ever because our guys have worked so hard the last 10 days."

Guard Terrell Stoglin led the Terps (1-0) in scoring with 22 points after starting the game from the bench. Turgeon surprisingly opted to give sophomore guard Mychal Parker his first career start before inserting Stoglin three minutes into the game. Neither Turgeon nor Stoglin would elaborate on the decision after the game.

"Terrell played his tail off tonight," Turgeon said. "He guarded, he was in position. He made one mistake. It's nothing big. It's just part of coaching and our relationship. The kid really played well."

"It's a challenge, but it's something I'm going to overcome and it's something that me and Coach are going to work on together," Stoglin said. "I was more concentrated and I wanted to show Coach that I could play defense."

Starting forwards Ashton Pankey and James Padgett combined for 25 points and 15 rebounds in the win. Their contributions helped counter the Terps' difficulties from behind the 3-point arc, where they went 0-for-9.

Padgett, who arrived in College Park in the same recruiting class as since-departed forward Jordan Williams, scored a career-high 12 points on 6-for-7 shooting. Aware that he, for the first time in his career, was going to play — and play often — Padgett shined in his first-ever start.

"I can get warm, I can get into the flow of the game," Padgett said. "I can make mistakes and know that I'm going to come back in the game instead of sitting for the rest of it."

For much of the first half, the Terps struggled to jump-start their offense against a Seahawks (0-1) team that used as many as six different defensive looks. They opened the game by missing 10 of their first 12 shots.

The Terps did, however, play tough defense and limited the Seahawks to just 32.3 percent shooting in the first half. Only UNC-Wilmington's freshman guard Adam Smith proved to be an issue, scoring 16 first-half points on four 3-pointers and finishing with a game-high 23.

"That's the thing coach is stressing right now: defense," Padgett said. "[We want] to hold people under 60 points if we can."

The Terps held a 32-27 advantage at the half after Stoglin converted a traditional three-point play with less than 15 seconds left. That carried over to a second half that began with a six-point salvo from the Terps, who gave themselves enough of a comfortable lead to cruise through the rest of the night and ensure a win for Turgeon in his first game in College Park.

After an offseason rife with change and turnover, the night proved a positive start for a largely new team under a new coach in what may be a new era of program history.

"Everybody has a chip on their shoulder," Padgett said. "People are doubting us; we were picked eighth or ninth in the ACC. We want to prove people wrong."

ceckard@umdbk.com