Notes from the Puerto Rico Tip-Off:
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Assistant coach Scott Spinelli sat in the lobby of Maryland's beachfront hotel on Saturday and attempted to verbally chart the progress of sophomore guard Terrell Stoglin.
Consider the strange arc of Stoglin's season so far:
It began when head coach Mark Turgeon wanted to send a message to the player by not starting him in the opener against UNC-Wilmington.
"There were some things that Coach Turgeon wanted Terrell to work a little harder on in practice. (He) didn't start him, and Terrell responded by coming out and playing extremely well in that game," said Spinelli, who followed Turgeon to Maryland from Texas A&M in the offseason.
After scoring 22 points against the Seahawks, Stoglin struggled (0-for-9 from the floor) in Maryland's second game – a 20-point loss to Alabama Thursday in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off.
But then the guard went off against Colorado in Friday night's Tip-Off game – a career-high 32 points, including 25 in the second half.
"He's very aggressive at times , sometimes overly aggressive," Spinelli said. "I think he's forcing it in the sense that he really wants to do well for them team, not just for himself. (Against Colorado) he got in the zone. Some of the shots he was taking I think we were fine with because he hit two or three in a row. He's got to find a way to get himself going. He started driving the ball more."
It was telling that Stoglin said after the Colorado game: "I just wanted to listen to coach tonight and it worked."