COLLEGE PARK -Maryland is getting used to playing what coach Mark Turgeon calls "grinders," games in which the Terrapins don't do much right but find themselves with a chance to win in the final minutes.
The Terps finally won a grinder when they beat NC State Wednesday on a last-second tip-in. The next test comes today at noon against North Carolina.
Turgeon installed another new starting lineup against the Wolfpack, which he called a good start in terms of the Terps (14-3, 2-2 ACC) staying with the conference contenders. But the good start came with some negatives, he said, from poor shooting to an attention-deficit problem coming out of timeouts.
"We can't even run a play I draw [up] ... who knows what's going to happen?" Turgeon said after Tuesday's win. "I'm just glad we figured out how to win the game. I hope my hair doesn't turn completely gray before the season's over. You try as hard as you can to coach them. It's hard to win in college basketball. That was a big lift for us."
Maryland gets to face the ACC's top scoring team for the second time this week. NC State led the conference before the Terrapins held the Pack to their lowest score of the season. Now, they get a Tar Heels team (11-5, 1-2) that averages 79.7 points per game.
Maryland hasn't won in Chapel Hill since 2008.
Sophomore center Alex Len leads the team with 13.5 points per game, and his final basket Wednesday counted as the game-winner against NC State. Len tipped in an errant shot from Pe'Shon Howard with less than one second remaining and Maryland upset the 14th-ranked Wolfpack at home.
Len is emerging as the Terps' most consistent player on offense, having posted double digits in 14 of 17 games and averaging 14.3 points against ACC foes.
Maryland will likely need another solid performance from Len to hang with the Heels, who boast a scoring tandem in sophomore forward James Michael McAdoo and junior forward Reggie Bullock.
McAdoo averages 14.4 points, 10th best in the ACC, while Bullock averages 13.5 points. Bullock also leads the conference in 3-point shooting at 46.9 percent.
Maryland's players said coming away with a win over NC State will give them extra confidence for the trip down Tobacco Road.
"Having a great win like this is good for us," said sophomore guard Nick Faust, "especially since it was the first big one in a while."
And if Maryland embarks on another winning streak, Turgeon and his players might look back at their win over the Wolfpack as the start of something more than just a midseason ACC victory.
"I didn't come here to be mediocre," Turgeon said. "I don't think the players came here to be mediocre. I asked them that, asked them before the game, 'Why'd you come here?' I came here to do great things. We haven't done a lot of great things since I've been here.""This is one great thing. Hopefully it's going to lead to many other great things, help us in a lot of different areas down the road."
