Coach Mark Turgeon watches the Terps lose to Oregon State, 90-83 on Nov. 17, 2013 at Comcast Center.
When the Terrapins men’s basketball team landed in the Virgin Islands for the Paradise Jam on Wednesday, the sandy beaches and clear blue water of the Caribbean were nothing new to them. They took a tour to the Bahamas to play three games over the summer, this squad’s first go-round with tropical conditions.
This time, though, the team has adopted an entirely different mindset.
“Before the season, that was summer, that was for team chemistry-building,” forward Charles Mitchell said. “Now it’s about going out there and winning games and helping our record. We’re not focused on going to the Virgin Islands to have fun, we’re going to take care of business and win games.”
After a 1-2 start to the season, the Terps will play three games in four days in the Virgin Islands, beginning with today’s bout against Marist. This trip, the team is more concerned with resurrecting the season rather than sunshine.
The Terps were confident in the preseason and the players often talked about their improved maturity. Coach Mark Turgeon discussed the improved leadership of guard Dez Wells, the confidence of forward Jake Layman and the added versatility of forward Evan Smotrycz.
Now the Terps feel finding success at the Paradise Jam is key to regaining some of that preseason attitude.
“We don’t want to be 1-2,” Turgeon said. “We just want to play better. I’m sitting over there on the sideline and I’m just like, ‘I can’t believe the way we’re playing.’”
With a field that includes the SEC’s Vanderbilt, the Big East’s Providence and a host of mid-major teams, the Terps have a chance to begin improving this week.
Turgeon and his players believe the key to moving out of their early season rut is to improve on defense after they allowed Oregon State to shoot 59.6 percent from the field in a 90-83 loss Sunday. Beyond that, the Terps hope to limit their turnovers — they’re averaging 15 a game — and shore up their defensive rebounding.
In order to fix those issues, the Terps said they have set a different tone in practice since their discouraging loss to the Beavers.
“Intense, way better focus,” Mitchell said. “We’re intense as a team in wanting to get better and not doubting each other.”
While Turgeon lauded the Terps for their improved focus in practice earlier this week, he doesn’t want his team to press too much too early in the season, either. He constantly reminds his group that despite their slow start, it’s only November, and there’s “a lot of basketball to play.”
So the Terps are also planning to use this trip to re-energize and move past a troubling start.
“It’s great for us,” Turgeon said. “Coming off a loss, we get to go to a beautiful place in the world, play three games in four days. We should improve a lot this week.”
Turgeon’s players certainly seem eager to get on the court in the Virgin Islands and shake Sunday’s performance from their minds.
“We were disappointed that we lost, but we put it past us now,” said guard Roddy Peters, the freshman who is expected to start at the point this weekend, earlier this week. “We are trying to get ready for the trip to the Virgin Islands. We’re not really thinking about that.”
Still, the result against Oregon State surprised the Terps and especially Turgeon, who remembers his team performing so well, particularly defensively, in a closed scrimmage against Villanova several weeks before the season opener.
Turgeon showed the Terps tape of that scrimmage to deliver a precise message to his team.
“If we can play like that with nobody in the gym,” Mitchell said, “we should be able to play like that with 17,000 or 15,000 people in the gym.”
There isn’t likely to be 17,000 people packed into the gym at the University of the Virgin Islands, but the Paradise Jam signals the Terps’ opportunity to start performing well in games that matter.
So while the team might hit the beach for a bit on its off day Saturday or Sunday, the Terps contend that the sunshine won’t cloud their minds. They’re intent on improving on the court and earning a few much-needed wins.
“This will be business,” Turgeon said. “Still fun because you’re in a beautiful part of the world and get to play a tournament, but it’ll be film sessions and all that kind of stuff. It’ll be totally different than summer.”
