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Terps' Mosley shakes off slump against Georgia Tech

Maryland basketball coach Gary Williams was pleased Sunday when his team escaped Atlanta with a 74-63 defeat of Georgia Tech.

He was arguably just as happy Sean Mosley broke out of an extended funk.

The junior scored 16 points --- his largest output since the season opener --- and thrived against the undersized Yellow Jackets as Maryland won its third straight game.

"I hope he was just playing," Williams said. "We all try to overthink things sometimes. Sean is a great player when he's flying around out there. If you miss a shot, if you're flying around you don't even think about it. But if you're a little worried about things, you miss a shot and that can build. Tonight he was just loose and relaxed. We needed it and it really came through."

The greater issue for the Terrapins (14-7, 4-3 ACC) is whether it can continue over the final 10 games of the regular season and beyond.

Mosley was pegged as the perimeter option most likely to emerge as a consistent scorer at the start of the season. Sure, Greivis Vasquez and Eric Hayes were gone, but Mosley started for a season and a half and possessed a scoring pedigree from his high school career in Baltimore.

The grinding guard instead enters Wednesday's date with No. 6 Duke at Comcast Center fifth on Maryland's roster in scoring, has nearly as many turnovers (47) as assists (52) and is shooting 42.6 percent from the floor.

Mosley acknowledged Sunday he felt good against the Yellow Jackets. He had eight points in the first 10 minutes, and seemed as involved as at any point all season. His 13 shots matched a season-high, and he reached double figures in scoring for the first time in 2011.

Yet he seemed bemused when it was suggested it was a breakout game of sorts.

"I wouldn't say I needed a game like this, because even if I'm not scoring the basketball, I do other things to contribute and help the team to win," Mosley said. "It was great for me to come out here early and start attacking early, getting to the free throw line and make some jumpers. It felt good for me, but I wanted to do anything to help my team win tonight."

Still, it was obvious it was the most complete game Mosley pieced together in a while, an opinion Williams offered unsolicited. In some ways, it was the ideal team for Mosley to shred.

Georgia Tech doesn't possess much size, and it was often forced to deploy a four-guard set against the Terps. At one point, the Yellow Jackets didn't have a player taller than 6-foot-5 on the floor.

Mosley, who outworked players in the paint during his high school career, was well-equipped to take advantage of the matchup, particularly when Williams shortened his rotation to seven players in the second half. When Jordan Williams and Dino Gregory took a break, it was Mosley who slid to the power forward spot.

"He's so versatile, and he moves so well to any position we give him," Jordan Williams said. "Coach Williams throws a whole bunch of plays at him and he always knows what to do."

Mosley shrugged off any great significance, grateful to collect a victory and move on to Maryland's February schedule. It starts with perhaps the Terps' last, best chance to collect a signature victory --- what could prove to be the only ranked team paying a visit to Comcast Center this season.

Maryland has moved itself into NCAA tournament contention without Mosley at what anyone would consider his best.  If Sunday was a sign of a re-emergence on offense, the Terps know what it could mean for their postseason push.

"We know Sean can do that," Jordan Williams said. "He's a great player. He's one of the main leaders of this team. For him to get his swag back is unbelievable. Him playing the play he's playing he is now, going to play Duke at our house is going to be an unbelievable."

Maryland plus-minus: Georgia Tech

If it seemed like Maryland guard Sean Mosley enjoyed one of his best games of the season on Sunday, well, that's because he did.

The junior scored 16 points, his best total since the season opener against Seattle, was particularly efficient whenever he was on the floor.

Consider: Maryland outscored Georgia Tech by 25 points when Mosley was on the court. The final margin was 11 points. While not always the case, the plus-minus and Mosley's performance match up pretty well.

More after the jump.

"Energy" reason behind Palsson starting over Mosley

Maryland used its fifth starting lineup in nine games today, and inevitably the question came up afterward about what prompted three guys coming in (Adrian Bowie, Terrell Stoglin and Hauk Palsson) and three guys heading out (Cliff Tucker, Pe'Shon Howard and Sean Mosley) today.

Stoglin had served his punishment for being late to a team function. Tucker's start was matchup-based on Thursday against Virginia Tech.

And as for the Palsson/Mosley swap?

"I just thought Hauk would give us energy at the start of a game," coach Gary Williams said. "We had 36 hours from the end of the Virginia Tech game to try to figure out a way to get things fired up a little bit. I thought Hauk did a good job coming in when he did [with] the way he started the game and got us flying."

Palsson had three points and two rebounds in 12 minutes.

Mosley had nine points, three rebounds and three assists in 20 minutes, his fourth-lowest minutes total of the season (behind the Maine, Temple and Villanova games).

And chances are very, very good this isn't the last postgame entry this season about a reshuffled lineup.

Palsson draws start over Mosley against Clemson

Tip time is less than 10 minutes away at Comcast Center, and Maryland has another lineup surprise.

Maybe surprise isn't the right word. At this point, it's clear the Terrapins are going to tinker with their lineup for nearly the entire season.

Freshman Hauk Palsson will make his first career start, getting the nod in place of junior Sean Mosley. It's the first time Mosley will come off the bench this season.

Terrell Stoglin also returns to the starting lineup in place of Pe'Shon Howard.

It's Maryland's fifth starting lineup in the last nine games, and Palsson becomes the eighth player to draw a start for the Terrapins this season.

This probably has a bit to do with performance and a bit to do with Clemson starting 6-foot-6, 220-pound forward Bryan Narcisse in place of the injured Tanner Smith. In any case, it's one question that will surely be asked of Gary Williams after the game.

Mosley trying to shake off slow start

Who's up for an early morning game?

Category	Player A	Player B
Points	8.7	14.8
Rebounds	4.3	5.3
Assists	2.7	3.5
Steals	0.6	1.8
FG Pct.	.377	.643
FT Pct.	.714	.759

Based on the headline, you know one of these players is Sean Mosley.

The truth is, both of them are the Maryland junior.

Player A is the guy still finding his way this year through seven games. He had 10 points, seven rebounds and two assists Friday against Elon and provided a little of everything (aside from maybe perimeter shooting), as he is wont to do.

Player B is Mosley's numbers through the first eight games of last season. Yes, there's a little cherry-picking involved that lumps an impressive Game No. 8 in there, although his rebounding and assist averages actually come down when last year's loss to Villanova is factored in.

Either way, Mosley got off to a ridiculous start as a sophomore. His scoring leveled out at 10.5 points a game, his assists average dropped by 25 percent the rest of the way and he wound up shooting 51.4 percent for the year. There was a regression to the mean (and Greivis Vasquez shaking off a slow start).

So in that way of thinking, there is probably a progression to the mean that should happen at some point. Perhaps not as dramatic as last year's start, but Maryland coach Gary Williams can envision something like that.

"I think Sean is in a slump," Williams said. "Sometimes he passes up shots he should take. Sometimes he takes shots he probably shouldn't take. That's a basketball slump. That's the equivalent of a baseball hitter who can't swing at a fastball down the middle but he'll swing at a pitch a foot outside, and the guy's a good hitter. Why does he do that? You get into slumps."

Maryland is 5-2 early on even though Mosley has yet to make the jump the Terps probably need him to if they are to spend much of the year closer to the top 25 than Bubbleville. In six games since a 21-point outburst against Seattle in the opener --- and at the time, it seemed like a stealthy 21 points --- Mosley is averaging 6.8 points on 31.1 percent shooting.

And so the Terps must wait for their most established backcourt player to re-emerge. Williams knows it will be worth it that does occur --- whenever it actually happns.

"These are 18-to-22-year-old people who are going to go through some things," Williams said. "Sean's a warrior and he's going to fight his way out of it. I thought he was better tonight, especially in the second half. I thought he did some very good things, so to me that was a very positive sign."

Terps' Ranson already enjoys one tie to current roster

Bino Ranson will begin his first season as a Maryland assistant this fall.

He'll already be extremely familiar with the game of one of the starters on his new team.

That would be Sean Mosley, who Ranson recruited to St. Frances Academy when Ranson was just getting into coaching and Mosley was still in middle school.

One of the handful of photos already displayed in Ranson's office includes Mosley, who averaged 10.1 points and 5.1 rebounds as a sophomore last season.

"He's been my favorite for a long time," Ranson said. "Just toughness and he's a great kid. Moreso than anything else, he carries himself in a respectable manner. That's something that can win over a lot of things, and that's something you need to have to be special."