Speaking of the point guard situation, Turgeon seemed pleased with the way Faust ran the team, despite the fact that he made only 3 of 11 from the field. He had seven rebounds, three assists and only one turnover in 31 minutes.

Big Ten preview

I know Turgeon said that he wants to have a high-scoring offense, but the past few games seem to be an indication that the Terps, until they find a way to hit a few more shots, will be happy grinding out wins as they did against the Wolfpack.

The Terps didn't shoot well (21 of 61), but they held the top scoring team in the ACC (as well as the top shooting team and second-best team on 3-pointers) to 31.5 points below its average and 21.7 percent below its field goal percentage.

Though Maryland is two years away from its transfer to the Big Ten, the Terps look to be playing a style that Wisconsin fans would appreciate. The only problem is that Maryland fans won't, and though some of Turgeon's teams at Texas A&M and Wichita State built their success on this kind of approach, I am confident that low-scoring games won't become his trademark.

BONUS POINT

No history majors

While the play that resulted in Maryland's game-winning shot didn't resemble the historic dunk by N.C. State's Lorenzo Charles off an airball by Dereck Whittenburg to beat Houston in the 1983 NCAA title game, there were more than a few folks who mentioned it after Howard's airball found its way to Len's fingers.

The Terps -- nearly to a man -- had no clue what we were talking about in the press room. You had to excuse Len for his blissful ignorance, since he grew up in the Ukraine.

But the questions about that shot were met with blank stares by both Faust and freshman guard Seth Allen.

I saw Dez Wells, who grew up in Raleigh, N.C. later on the court and when given all the particulars, said, "Yeah, I've seen that."

Boy do I feel old.

LOOKING AHEAD

Does Saturday's game at North Carolina (11-5, 1-2) look a little different for Maryland (14-3, 2-2) after a win rather than a third straight defeat. While Roy Williams said on Monday's ACC coaches' teleconference that his Tar Heels feel a lot better about themselves after beating Florida State on the road last Saturday, North Carolina has not been that good at home this season either. The Tar Heels lost there recently to Miami and narrowly beat East Carolina and UNLV. If the Terps can silence the crowd early, it might turn into what former Florida State guard Sam Cassell (Dunbar) famously referred to as a "cheese and wine" -- that's how he said it folks -- crowd.