COLLEGE PARK — The scenario played out countless times over coach Mark Turgeon's first three seasons at Maryland.
His Terps men's basketball team would call a timeout, and Turgeon would draw up a play for his team to run.
But when play restarted, Maryland typically would have trouble scoring, often losing the ball without even having taken a shot, in large part because one or more players were in the wrong spot or because the point guard was running the wrong play.
Beyond the No. 17 Terps' significant upgrade this season at the point with freshman Melo Trimble are a number of other obvious improvements, their ability to execute set plays chief among them.
Going into Sunday's game at Oklahoma State (9-1) — the first for Maryland (10-1) after a seven-day break for final exams — Turgeon has seen tremendous growth in on-court awareness and intelligence from a team with four freshmen in the rotation.
"I think it's a combination of things. One, we have smart players," Turgeon said recently. "For early in the year, we've executed pretty well. On top of that, you've got to make shots, and our guys make shots out of timeouts. … It's good when you score" out of timeouts.
In Maryland's last game, the Terps had started to chip away at a seven-point deficit against USC Upstate early in the second half when Trimble, fresh off a timeout, drove through the Spartans' seemingly impenetrable zone defense.
Trimble scored on a layup and was fouled. The resulting three-point play cut Maryland's deficit to a point, part of a 12-2 run that helped the Terps take the lead in what became a 67-57 victory at Xfinity Center.
"When he had the and-one, we were [thinking], 'What is going to put us over the top?' " Turgeon recalled. "When Melo got all the way to the rim, got fouled and scored, it kind of gave us confidence."
Part of that confidence stems from Trimble's ability — and, accordingly, that of the Terps — to run the right play at the right time, particularly after timeouts. Coming out of timeouts called by Turgeon, Maryland has converted nearly half of its plays (five of 11). The Terps are even better coming out of media timeouts when they have the ball (12 of 20).
"I hope it can continue," Turgeon said. "If we can be 50 percent after timeouts, that's a pretty good clip."
Senior guard Richaud Pack attributes the post-stoppage success to what transpires during the stoppage.
"It's focusing and locking in during the timeouts," Pack said recently. "I've been part of teams where you go out right after a timeout and the [point guard] turns the ball over, or three people are looking at the coach saying, 'What you'd say we should do?' But we have guys who listen during timeouts, and that's really the key."
That was often Turgeon's lament coming out of timeouts over the past two years. Plays would break down unexpectedly, with shots fired prematurely, dribbles lost or passes stolen. Much of that stemmed from the inconsistent play at point guard.
Though Maryland's inefficient offense wasn't limited to the Terps' play out of timeouts, it served to explain the team's larger struggles. At this point last year, the Terps were 7-4 and about to lose to Boston University at home. They would finish the season 2-6 in games decided by three points or fewer or in overtime.
Junior forward Jake Layman has noticed harsher consequences for players who don't run the correct play after a timeout this season.
"I think guys are more locked in on Coach, making sure they don't miss anything," Layman said, referring to Turgeon. "I think we've seen a couple of times this year when we do come out of a timeout and have a play set and they run it wrong, they're going to come out of the game. That's a mistake we can't have."
Especially with how often the Terps have found open teammates for 3-pointers after timeouts this season.
"I think with the personnel that's been on the floor after timeouts, it's kind of worked out that way," Pack said. "We have a lot of shooters, so it does benefit us to get open jump shots that Coach knows we can knock down. A lot of the plays are set up [so] that if a 3-point shot isn't there, we have a layup."
Turgeon said his team's longe-range shooting ability often has to do what leads up to it.
"I think we're a better screening team. We're not a great screening team, but we're better, and that's something to do with it," Turgeon said.
Note: Sunday's game could be the last Maryland plays without senior guard Dez Wells this season. Out since fracturing his right wrist in a win last month over Iowa State, Wells has been working after practice on the same conditioning drills the Washington Wizards used with guard Bradley Beal, who had a similar early-season injury. Turgeon said Wells could be available "after Christmas." The Terps host Oakland on Dec. 27 before traveling to No. 25 Michigan State on Dec. 30 for the school's first Big Ten Conference game.