Nick Faust played only five minutes Saturday. He spent much of the early portion of this week receiving treatment for muscle spasms.
And now?
"I felt a lot better," the Maryland sophomore said Friday. "I even did some weightlifting today. It was better."
That's welcome news for the Terrapins (13-2, 1-1 ACC), who visit Miami on Sunday. What was even better was Faust's effectiveness in 21 minutes in Wednesday's loss to Florida State.
The sophomore scored 14 points, tied for his second-best total this season, and matched a season-high with five field goals made. His four 3-pointers were a career high.
"He shot it well," coach Mark Turgeon said. "Nick didn't seem completely healthy to me the other night, but he was more under control, which I liked. I thought the one that was goaltended and wasn't called, he made a good move. He had a good pace about him."
Faust still has to contend with a deep bruise in his shoulder blade, and needs to crack his back on occasion to stave off some discomfort. He said he was "close to 100 percent."
That presumably ends a mild injury chapter for a team that's remained fairly healthy this season.
"He was a little better today," Turgeon said between Maryland's two practices. "He was a little bit tight, still. I'm hoping this afternoon he's better and I'm hoping he's 100 percent in shape. He started to cramp in the first half our there, which was crazy, so we had that and the back issue. I was proud of Nick in that game. I'll lean a little bit heavier on Nick as we go forward."
--- Patrick Stevens
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