Maryland guard Terrell Stoglin took to Twitter to voice his displeasure with a late-game benching at Duke on Saturday.
It wasn’t a lingering issue Wednesday for the Terrapins. Or the day before. Or the day before that.
Coach Mark Turgeon said the matter was handled before the team’s flight back to Baltimore.
“I said, ’It hurts you more than it hurts anybody else,’” Turgeon said of his conversation with Stoglin. ” ’There’s a lot of people following you on that. You hurt yourself today.’ There’s some other things we talked about between me and him. As far as I’m concerned, when we hit the ground in Baltimore Saturday night, it was behind us. The worst part about [it] is having to answer it with you guys.”
Stoglin, who was benched for more than four minutes in the 73-55 loss, wrote, “Loved sittin that bench today. [Smh] wow” on his Twitter page. The tweet was deleted within an hour, and Stoglin apologized later in the evening and cited frustration with the loss as a reason for his initial actions.
Stoglin averages an ACC-leading 21.6 points for the Terps (14-10, 4-6 ACC), who play host to Boston College (8-17, 3-8) Thursday. Stoglin was not among the players Maryland provided for interviews Wednesday in advance of the game.
That isn’t uncommon; nearly all of Stoglin’s media interactions have come after games this season, though he did not meet with reporters after Saturday’s setback.
Stoglin shot 4-for-16 against the Blue Devils and was flustered as Duke concentrated much of its defensive attention on him. It also came a day after Maryland learned point guard Pe’Shon Howard would miss the rest of the season with a torn right knee ligament.
Stoglin spent more time at the point Saturday than at any stage since Howard’s return from a broken foot in late December. He and freshman Nick Faust likely will split the position going forward.
Turgeon said he could understand why Stoglin was frustrated at the benching.
“He’s never not finished a game,” Turgeon said. “He doesn’t understand certain situations, and I tried to explain it to him. He calmed down. He’s competitive. That’s why he’s a good player.”
Turgeon wasn’t the only member of the program to consider the weekend’s furor a matter of the past.
“When his number’s called to make a play, he’s always made those plays for us,” guard Sean Mosley said. “We just have to keep him under control throughout the rest of the season. Like I told Terrell, ’Sometimes things don’t go his way, things don’t go my way, things don’t go a lot of people’s way. At the end of the day, we’re going to need you, so just try to stay focused and don’t worry about what others say.’ “
Turgeon said the incident would not affect his social-media policy. It’s a progressive approach, permitting players to make mistakes and learn from them and absorb improvements or hits to their reputation along the way.
He also emphasized he has an “open, honest” relationship with Stoglin, whom he has praised for his improvement since Turgeon was hired in May.
“Disappointed in it, but that’s today’s world,” Turgeon said of Stoglin’s tweet. “The way I look at it is it’s like raising kids. Kids make mistakes, you correct it. I’m not promising you he’s not going to do it again. I hope he doesn’t. I’m not going to take that away from him because he’s a guy who needs to grow up and learn how to use that tool.”
NOTE: Maryland will honor the jersey of former player Ernie Graham before Thursday’s game. Graham, a Baltimore native who played for the Terps from 1977 to 1981, ranks 13th in school history in points (1,607) and 16th in assists (346).
• Patrick Stevens can be reached at pstevens@washingtontimes.com.
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