Illini will pose new Challenge to men's basketball

From as early as the shootaround before his Terrapins men's basketball team's first game against UNC-Wilmington earlier this month, Mark Turgeon was beyond frustrated.

His irritations didn't wane in the games that followed. The coach routinely barked from the sideline when the Terps failed to run back on defense, couldn't run his plays or didn't make the right reads on offense or defense.

But with his team set to host undefeated Illinois (6-0) tonight in the annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge, Turgeon is pleased with his players' progress in the early season. They run plays right about 70 percent of the time, according to the first-year coach — a drastic increase from just a week ago.

"We're just trying to take tiny steps to bring it all together," Turgeon said. "I think we've made significant improvements since Puerto Rico, so hopefully that will carry over into [tonight]."

They'll face an Illinois team stacked with exactly what scares Turgeon: quality depth. The Fighting Illini have 11 players who average 10 minutes or more of playing time per game, and can rotate fresh bodies in and out to run their full-court defense and motion offense.

The Terps (3-2) have three players averaging 30 minutes or more, including senior guard Sean Mosley, who is nursing an ankle injury, and freshman point guard Nick Faust, who has struggled with cramps.

Faust, in particular, is learning how to manage his body to play the high-intensity minutes that Turgeon has requested, all while learning a new position he hasn't played regularly since he was 10 years old.

As the team's preferred point guard option, Faust's scoring ability — an attribute many raved about when he signed with the Terps — has become lost in the shuffle of a positional switch. He has missed all seven 3-pointers he's attempted and is 4-for-19 overall from the field in the past two games.

"That might have thrown me off a little bit," Faust said of the extra responsibilities. "It's just me getting up more shots. I just have to get into the flow of things and get it going."

Faust and the Terps have also learned to play a slower style of offense. With fewer players to work with, Turgeon has had to adjust how he usually coaches to conserve his team's legs for a full 40 minutes.

But the Terps, through their early-season losses, have grown as a group.

"They're maturing," Turgeon said. "We have guys that pout, we have guys that make excuses. There's guys that are pouting less, there's guys that are making fewer excuses. We're getting there. We have a long ways to go but we're making strides. I went home last night and I felt good about the guys. That doesn't mean we're going to win [tonight], but we have a chance."

Tonight's prime-time, nationally televised contest against the Fighting Illini gives the Terps an opportunity to show just how far they've come since stumbling in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off nearly two weeks ago.

While some have reservations about tonight's game, others are excited for another chance to show how far they've come.

"I try to put it out of mind," center Berend Weijs said. "It's just a game. But knowing all the cameras are there, you notice it. So you might get a little more jitters."

"I like that," Faust said. "Big lights, big stage. I'm happy for it. I really don't get any jitters for it. I get excited."

The Terps have won 14 of their past 20 nonconference games, and they'll put a six-game win streak in the Challenge to the test tonight.

"Hopefully we can keep that string going," Turgeon said. "That means we played really well and beat a good team to do it. We have a heck of a challenge."

ceckard@umdbk.com