COLLEGE PARK — Maryland men's basketball coach Mark Turgeon passed up a chance to play a Division I team in a private scrimmage when Division II Bowie State, which the Terps had been scheduled to play in December, instead agreed to play a preseason exhibition.
Hoping the Bulldogs would give Maryland more of a test than Division II San Francisco State did the week before, Turgeon can only wonder whether the Terps are ready for the regular season after another blowout.
Maryland certainly played with more tenacity on defense in the first half of an 89-47 victory Saturday at Xfinity Center, holding Bowie State to single-digit points for most of the half and leading 48-15 at halftime.
While Maryland didn't shoot as well from 3-point range (9-for-21) as it did against San Francisco State (14-for-27), the Terps continued to show they are willing to share the ball.
"I think what we were trying to get out of this game was getting comfortable within our offense and running through our plays, especially for the young guys," said junior forward Jake Layman, who led Maryland with 18 points on 7-for-8 shooting, including three of three 3-pointers.
But turnovers also are still part of the equation for a team that is both young and learning the nuances of a new motion offense. Maryland committed 19 turnovers, as it did against San Francisco State.
"I'm not going to harp on [the turnovers]. The more I talk about it, the worse it's going to get, so I'm going to try to ignore it and get better," Turgeon said. "We talked about it all week in practice. We ran for turnovers in practice. We might try to run more this week and see if it helps us."
Maryland continued to get balanced scoring. Freshman shooting guard Dion Wiley scored 13 points, freshman small forward Jared Nickens had 12, and senior guard Dez Wells finished with 11 despite playing just 17 minutes because of early foul trouble.
Junior guard Justin Beck (Calvert Hall) led Bowie State with 10 points and six rebounds.
Turgeon said Layman and Wells got the Terps offense going, and senior forward Jon Graham (Calvert Hall) "set the tone" defensively. Graham finished with eight points and a team-high 11 rebounds.
"I told the team at halftime: 'If everybody played as hard as Jon and everybody communicated as well as Jon, people would have a really hard time scoring on us,' " Turgeon said.
Bowie State did. A year after losing to Duke, 103-64, at Cameron Indoor Stadium in a preseason exhibition, the Bulldogs made four of 34 shots, including one of 14 3-pointers, in the first half. It finished 14-for-63 (22.2 percent) for the game.
Bulldogs coach Darrell Brooks said after the game that it was only partly due to Maryland's defense.
"I thought in the first half, honestly, I just thought we missed shots," Brooks said. "But you've got to give their defense some credit. I thought they did a good job of jumping the passing lanes and forcing turnovers. It seemed every time we turned it over, they had a layup."
If Turgeon has concerns besides turnovers going into the season, it's defensive rebounding. Though Maryland outrebounded Bowie State by 16 (45-29), the Bulldogs still finished with 15 offensive boards.
Asked where he thinks his team is going into Friday's regular-season opener against Wagner, Turgeon said: "I think we have a chance to be a good team. We've got a lot of good pieces; they're very coachable. We can score in a variety of ways … and I think, defensively, we have a chance to be a really good basketball team."
Brooks agreed. Having watched Turgeon's first three Maryland teams, Brooks said the team's potential pitfalls — a lack of a dominant inside game, a reliance on freshmen in the rotation — can be overcome with game experience and physical maturity, particularly with big men Damonte Dodd and Michal Cekovsky.
One thing was obvious to Brooks.
"I think they're a little younger this year, but I like their chemistry," Brooks said. "Their chemistry seems good this early in the season with so many new guys. … I'm still trying to figure how they're going to fit into the Big Ten. I like this team. I like the parts and I think they're going to be successful this year."