Three things to watch for against IUP

Among the things Maryland senior guard Eric Hayes said the team will monitor tonight during their exhibition game against Indiana (Pa.) are how hard the players compete, who is in game shape, how well the team executes its offense, who knows all the plays and who's running the plays correctly.

"I think it’s important for us," Hayes said. "We haven’t played against anybody besides ourselves in a long time, and it’s just a good measuring stick to see where we are at this point in the season."

Here are a few more things to keep note of tonight:

1) The freshmen bigs. As Maryland Coach Gary Williams acknowledged on Monday, sometimes players' performances in practice can be misleading. Some play better in games than they do in practice. Others play better in practice than they do in games. By now, Williams pretty well has his returning players figured out in that regard, but this will be his first opportunity to see Jordan Williams and James Padgett in action at the collegiate level. Will the young post players continue to exceed, as they did in each of the team's two intrasquad scrimmages? How much time will they need to adjust to play at this level? Tonight's game will provide indications, if not certifiable answers. IUP, after all, is a Division II program.

2) Hayes's aggressiveness. Hayes admitted Monday that he lacked his usual stamina during the team's first intrasquad scrimmage on Oct. 24. Hayes missed most of two months during the fall while recovering from a turf toe injury and had been back at practice only a week before that first scrimmage. Hayes was much more assertive during the scrimmage on Halloween and he said he's starting to get back into proper physical condition.

"As long as my toe is fine, it’s just my wind and getting that back to game shape," Hayes said.

3) How long it takes to shake off the first-game jitters.

"I think [Tuesday] everybody’s going to be so excited, so I kind of, like, see the first couple minutes everybody is making a couple of mistakes that we don’t usually make because we’re just so anxious and we just want to play. But it will just be good overall to find out where we’re at."

By Steve Yanda  |  November 3, 2009; 3:01 PM ET  | Category:  Men's basketball
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Posted by: ckstevenson | November 3, 2009 4:20 PM

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