Ask around in college basketball, and you’ll hear of a special form of dread that accompanies the first game after an exam break.
The practice schedule is usually uneven. The last game is often at least a week in the rearview mirror. Students, done with their academic obligations, have largely left campus and taken their share of in-arena energy home along with loads of laundry.
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Tack on an 8:30 p.m. tip-off that is the friend of no one besides a television executive, and the effort the Maryland men required to shake off Nicholls, 73-67, on Tuesday night before an announced crowd of 11,004 at Xfinity Center makes a bit of sense.