COLLEGE PARK — The Maryland men's basketball team held a 90-minute public practice Saturday at Xfinity Center that included nearly an hour's scrimmaging.
While coach Mark Turgeon thought his team's offense was better than its defense, the sixth-year coach was generally pleased with the way his revamped team is doing about halfway through the preseason.
"It's crazy, all summer the guys worked on defense, the first week of practice, all we did was defense, but I felt like the offense was ahead of it," Turgeon said. "It shouldn't be. Three weeks good, we're not good in anything right now, but we will be."
The Terps open the season Nov. 11 against American.
"We have a lot of guys who know how to play," Turgeon said. "They got a good feel for the game, our spacing was good. We actually didn't move the ball like we've been moving it. I don't know if it was people in the stands, I don't know what it was. We've got a lot of good passers, a lot of good shooters, we've been able to stretch it a little bit too."
Junior center Michal Cekovsky (hamstring) and freshman forward Justin Jackson (ankle) participated in the team drills, but they were the only players not to scrimmage.
"Justin tweaked his ankle at the end of practice [during the drills]. If we had a game, Justin would have played," Turgeon said. "He'll be fine. We're taking a day off tomorrow, he should be 100 percent by Monday."
Here are some of the other observations from the scrimmage:
-Turgeon is not set on his starting lineup or rotation, aside from the fact that "Melo [Trimble's] going to play," he joked. "I have some depth, so if certain guys aren't playing well, I can plug somebody else in. It's getting a little bit clearer."
-The Terps have more long-range shooters on this year's team than they've had at any time during Turgeon's first five years.
Along with Trimble and junior swingman Jared Nickens, Maryland has added freshmen guards Kevin Huerter and Anthony Cowan Jr. Redshirt junior Dion Wiley, coming back from missing last season with a torn meniscus, looks to have improved his range and junior Jaylen Brantley, who struggled as a junior college transfer, looks to be shooting with more confidence.
"Today, Jared made a couple of [3-point] shots, Dion made a couple, Melo made a couple [including one 3 on which he was fouled by Brantley]. We had a lot of guys make shots today," Turgeon said. "It's been that way pretty consistently through practice."
— Much has changed in the past year for Maryland point guard Melo Trimble. A year ago, he was coming
Huerter was particularly hot Saturday, both coming off screens and getting his own shot.
"It felt good, especially when you make the first one, the rest of them kind of feel pretty good," Huerter said.
-Redshirt sophomore forward Ivan Bender, who was buried on the bench last season, has been "the biggest surprise of the [pre]season" and continued to impress with a lot of intangibles.
"He can really pass," Turgeon said of the 6-9 Bender, who made a terrific touch pass to transfer LG Gill in the lane. "He's very smart defensively too for us."
-Trimble looks healthy and appears to be playing with the swagger he showed as a freshman.
Though he still needs to be a more demonstrative leader in terms of talking, especially on the defensive end, Trimble appears to have formed the same kind of bond with Cowan that Dez Wells did with him two years ago.
"They're really feeding off each other," Turgeon said. "Sometimes when they're in [together], Melo brings it and Anthony plays off the ball. They've gotten a lot better in the last three weeks playing together. I like it. What I love about Anthony is how he can pressure the ball. When he plays with Melo he gets off the ball a little bit more and passes the ball a little bit better."