It wasn't all that exciting, it wasn't always pretty, and it wasn't against the best competition, but you never turn down an easy road ACC win. That's a valuable, rare commodity in a league of parity. Maryland ended up with the lead from the start and quickly jumped out ahead of a sloppy Boston College team, eventually winning 73-57.
After a relatively one-man performance against Wake Forest - Greivis Vasquez had 30 points on 27 shots - Maryland came out and was absurdly balanced. Vasquez had 17; Cliff Tucker had 14; Adrian Bowie had 15; Landon Milbourne had 13. Four players in double-digits, all near each other, is tough to accomplish, but Maryland did it impressively.
Actually, a rather short bench - it only went 3 deep for the majority of the game - did surprisingly well. Bowie continued his good play of the past few games and Tucker was a solid offensive sparkplug without turning it over too much. Tucker even showed some long-range ability, knocking down all 3 of his attempted trifectas. After a close, disappointing ACC loss, this type of game was a blessing.
Continuing the trend of flipping the Wake Forest performance on its head, Vasquez switched from turnovers to assists - after a 7 TO game on Tuesday, he turned it over just twice while dishing out 9 assists.
Complaints are few and far between after this type of game, but it's important to note two things: first, that Boston College isn't a particularly impressive team. They did beat Miami and South Carolina, yes, but they also lost to Maine and St. Joseph's. This game is likely one of the latter performances, not the former.
Second, this game wasn't perfect. Vasquez, Bowie, and Tucker shined. Dino Gregory and Jordan Williams, however, were unbelievably quiet. They didn't need the points tonight, but they might later, and the disappearance of both - mostly offensively, but on the boards, too - doesn't bode well.
Worse, Sean Mosley's offensive performance still has me worried. I know he can become a #1 option, but he's been struggling lately. He's still awesome on the boards and getting loose balls, but he's also timid with the ball and hasn't been scoring with any consistency in the past three or four games.
Then again, their average games might be the result of others stepping up, nothing more. I'll wait until they start to have those problems when others don't back them up to truly worry, but these are hanging around in the back of my mind.
Regardless, Maryland sits at 2-1 in the ACC in good shape for the future. They're just one point from 3-0, and it's tough to argue that the first three games haven't been a huge success. I'll take it.