Terps cruise past Florida Atlantic, but issues remain

The scoreboard read 72-59 when the final buzzer sounded, but despite the sizeable margin of victory against Florida Atlantic Sunday, the Terrapin men's basketball team acknowledged there is a lot to fix before it faces off against a difficult nonconference opponent in William and Mary on Wednesday.

The Terps (8-3) struggled once again underneath the basket, and were outrebounded 49-45, continuing a trend that has haunted them all season long.

Florida Atlantic forward Brett Royster recorded 14 rebounds. The 6-foot-8 junior was a dominant force inside the paint during his 35 minutes of playing time. Coach Gary Williams and players all felt that losing the rebounding battle was more a matter of hustle and heart than technique.

"Screening out's nice, but screening out doesn't necessarily get you the ball," Williams said. "We have to do something. I think that's critical to our success this year – to become a better rebounding team."

The Terps held Florida Atlantic (5-7) to 31.5 percent shooting in the game. They also forced the Owls into numerous scoring droughts, including a 4:31 slump in the first half, in which the Terps took an 11-point lead.

The team's pressure defense forced 17 Florida Atlantic turnovers, but Williams noted that the good defensive play does nothing when second chance opportunities are abundant.

"I know we don't go for the ball as well as we should given that we play pretty good defense," Williams said. "They're connected. There's no reason to play that type of defense then give up second shots. It just doesn't make any sense."

Even though the team struggled with rebounding, guard Greivis Vasquez continued his impressive return to last season's form. He recorded 26 points on 12-for-20 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds. His 26-point output gives him three straight games with over 20 points.

After struggling early in the season, Vasquez has been the team's leading scorer in six out of the last seven games.

"I've felt better. I don't know if there was a lot of pressure, but things weren't going smoothly with me, and I've got to get myself going as the leader of the team," Vasquez said. "In the last couple weeks, I've been feeling good, and I'm just going to continue to get better."

One big reason Vasquez had to step up his play Sunday was the absence of guard Sean Mosley.

Mosley, who has led the Terps in scoring twice this season, including a 26-point output on Dec. 6 against then No. 3 Villanova, was sidelined due to a minor left ankle sprain. Although Mosley was on the floor during warm-ups, he never left his seat next to assistant coach Keith Booth after tip-off.

"He probably could've played some if we needed him, but we want him a 100 percent for William and Mary on Wednesday," Williams said. "If he's ready to go, he'll be in the starting lineup."

With Mosley looking on from the bench, forward Cliff Tucker stepped into the starting lineup and recorded 11 points and three assists. Williams acknowledged Tucker's good performance following the game, but noted that he needs to become more consistent.

The Terps' transition offense was effective, with 14 points coming on fast break situations. The team moved the ball efficiently, and early in the first half Vasquez passed the ball up court to a jumping Landon Milbourne, who instantly one touched it to Tucker. Tucker finished the play with an easy lay up.

"Right now it's just a matter of us trusting [the offense] and trusting each other - moving the ball and finding open people and then once we get the ball score," Milbourne said. "We did a good job of that tonight. We weren't really worried about our offensive side, we were worried about defense tonight."

TERP NOTE: In addition to Tucker starting for the injured Mosley, freshman Jordan Williams got the nod over forward Dino Gregory.

"That was my call," Williams said. "I just thought that maybe a different look would be good for both guys. Especially for Dino where he played so well last year coming off the bench."

engelke@umdbk.com