Maryland basketball blew out Gardner-Webb on Saturday afternoon, getting a 22-point win without Justin Jackson or Bruno Fernando.
Jackson missed the game with an illness, while Fernando is nursing a low right ankle sprain. While the former should be back for Tuesday’s contest against Catholic, the latter might miss that one as well. In their absences, freshman Darryl Morsell led the team with a career-high 18 points, as one of five players with at least nine.
“I was proud of my group,” head coach Mark Turgeon said after the game. “We were down a couple guys—one starts and one finishes games for us—and for us to be consistently pretty good today was good to see.”
Coach Mark Turgeon is live after blowing out Gardner-Webb. https://t.co/Lpg5EXMB1a
— Testudo Times (@testudotimes) December 9, 2017
Maryland tamed some of its turnover issues. The Terps only had only one turnover in the first 13 minutes and finished the game with just 11, their second-fewest all season.
“Some of the turnovers, one was an illegal screen, we had some decisions that could’ve been made better,” Turgeon said. “They just gotta decide they’re going to be better with the ball. I do think we’re getting a little bit more comfortable in what we’re running. Guys know where they’re supposed to be, what they’re supposed to do and all I can do is keep trying to coach them the best I can.”
Ivan Bender and Joshua Tomaic stepped up to add valuable post depth. Bender had an even-keeled stat line highlighted by a career-high seven assists, along with four points, five rebounds, a steal and a block. Meanwhile, Tomaic had career-bests across the board, with nine points and six rebounds in 16 minutes.
“It was good to see guys that haven’t had much of a chance, get more of a chance,” Turgeon said. “Jared Nickens, and Josh Tomaic obviously, Ivan Bender—and Ivan was a big part of our success last year, it’s just been hard to get him in.
“I just like the way we shared the ball, I like the way we got better defensively, and even though the were small, we stayed big. I didn’t worry about matchups and their speed and all that and just let guys play through it today.”