HOOS 71, Murrland 44

My notes from yesterday's exactly-what-we-needed blowout victory over the Terps:

Commander In Chief

• Maryland is likely to end up as an RPI Top-100 team, so the win was a pretty good one.  The fact that it was a bounce-back win that might catapult us forward down the stretch, and the fact that we buried them in the second half despite being short-handed and with our starting fullback point guard in foul trouble, even better.  It was a must-win, and we got it in style.
• Tons of credit to Mike Scott, who shook off his recent penchant for second half disappearing acts and instead spurred us into that 16-0 run to take control.
• We held an offensive talented Maryland team to 13 second half points.  Love that.
• I think Sammy Zeglinski worked himself off the schneid a little bit.  Having the ball in his hands with Evans on the bench in the second half helped him a lot, I believe.  We need to put Sammy at the point a bit more often -- I think it really helped him to forget the slump and just play.
• Malcolm Brogdon, delivering.  It's a welcome sight, and a very positive portend for the rest of the season and especially next season, when we'll need a #2 scoring option to work alongside Joe Harris.
• Jesperson hit a three!  That's gotta be helpful for the young man's confidence.  I hope he's got about five more locked and loaded for this stretch run.
• Joe Harris gave us 17 minutes, and could have given another 10 or 12 more.  He looked much more comfortable with that mummy hand than he did against Clem's Son.  It's been eight days since the injury, the swelling has to be down and the pain subsiding.  I think he'll be back to 75-80% for the Virginia Tech game and hopefully up to around 90% for the UNC game next weekend.  We need scoring punch from Joey Hoops, but with Evans and Brog stepping up, it's maybe a little less crucial.
• I was honestly surprised by the effort and confidence on display in this game.  After that loss to Klempsun, I thought we'd come out looking rattled and tentative against Maryland.  Even in the face of those bullshit hail mary threes they kept nailing, we held our composure.  I credit Tony Bennett.  The man is a good coach.

Welcome back?

Tuesday is the Virginia Tech rematch.  Nervous about that game.  Hopefully we can roll in there and handle our business in a revenge game against a team that oozes mediocrity.  But we know the turkeys will be "up" to beat us and spoil our season, like we did to them last year.

GO HOOS!