Four games into its highly anticipated 2019-20 season, the Maryland men's basketball team has held serve. The No. 6-ranked Terps are 4-0 with four double-digit home wins against mid-major competition. They haven't set the world on fire, but they've had more than enough to burn out their opponents.
Maryland has made a habit of starting slow, trailing early in each game before pulling ahead. The turnaround came quick against Oakland Nov. 16, as an 18-17 deficit became a 30-point lead in a bit more than 20 minutes of game time en route to an 80-50 win. Four days later, Maryland cruised past Fairfield, 74-55, in a game that would've been much more lopsided had the Terps made a few more foul shots (they went 8-of-15) or had the Stags missed some heavily contested threes (they hit 10 of their first 16 and finished 12-of-25).
It's hard to draw too many conclusions from this sample size. The most notable trends have been slow starts to games and shaky 3-point shooting -- Maryland is 27-of-95 (28.4 percent) from beyond the arc. Turnovers were a problem in first halves against Rhode Island Nov. 9 and Oakland but not otherwise. Free throws were a problem against Fairfield, but that's it. Only senior guard Anthony Cowan Jr. has scored in double figures all four games, although there's been plenty of contributions from around the roster.
