Pharrel Payne dominated Maryland men’s basketball’s preseason game against UMBC last Monday, scoring a game-high 26 points. His strong play continued into the first official game of the Buzz Williams era.

Payne was the Terps’ best player in their 83-61 season-opening win over Coppin State Monday night in Baltimore. The Texas A&M transfer poured in a game-high 21 points on 6-for-8 shooting in 28 minutes — a total he didn’t eclipse until January last season for the Aggies.

“I would say, in general, I’m leaning on my guys,” Payne said. “It takes a whole team to get it done.”

Here are three observations from Maryland’s victory at CFG Bank Arena.

Terps gain some health

Graduate guard Diggy Coit and junior guard Isaiah Watts, two of the Terps’ four unavailable players in their exhibition, both suited up Monday. Watts sported a black mask over his face — still nursing a preseason eye injury.

Coit impressed in 28 minutes off the bench, totaling 13 points, four rebounds and four assists. The Kansas transfer efficiently controlled the Terps’ offense, recording just one turnover.

Maryland practiced with eight players for much of the preseason, Williams said. It’s possible Coit and Watts, two key rotation pieces, came off the bench because they haven’t fully practiced for an extended stretch.

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Williams rolled out the same starting lineup from the Terps’ exhibition. True freshmen Guillermo Del Pino and Darius Adams joined redshirt freshman Andre Mills in Maryland’s backcourt. Senior forwards Elijah Saunders and Pharrel Payne anchored its frontcourt.

Redshirt junior Myles Rice (ankle) and senior Solomon Washington (ankle) sat out once again, with no timetable for their returns.

Two focuses for Buzz Williams

Offensive rebounding and turnovers are two areas Williams wants his teams to dominate. His ultimate goal is to outshoot opponents and control more possessions.

But Maryland might not be able to control the offensive glass at the rate Williams desires.

Payne, the heaviest player at 6-foot-9, 250 pounds, led the Terps’ concentrated rebounding efforts. He was Maryland’s only player to grab more than two offensive boards.

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The Terps collected 11 of their 30 misses against the Eagles, a similar figure to the 40-plus percent offensive rebounding rate Williams’ teams posted his last two seasons at Texas A&M. But it wasn’t as dominant as expected against a smaller Coppin State team.

Maryland turned the ball over 17 times against UMBC — a rate the Terps slightly improved on Monday with 12 giveaways. Its active and disruptive defense forced 20 Coppin State turnovers, an encouraging sign for a new and inexperienced group.

Improvements from beyond the arc

Maryland’s offense looked concerning against UMBC. The Terps totaled 82 points but collected an unsustainable 29 points at the free throw line and shot 5-for-15 on 3-pointers.

Maryland found initial solutions on Monday, albeit against a low-level opponent that ranks third-worst in all of Division I, according to KenPom.

The Eagles varied a low-pressure 2-3 zone with their man-to-man defense, daring Maryland to shoot when it had open looks. The Terps capitalized early, shooting 8-for-17 from beyond the arc in the first half.

But Maryland’s offense reverted closer to the form seen against UMBC after halftime.

The Terps opened the second half with seven consecutive misses and 11 of its first 13. They shot 36 percent from the field and 2-for-12 from three, relying heavily on their 16 free throw makes.

“It’s a small sample size, but if I was projecting, I would say that’s not what we’ll end up being able to do, nor what we would want,” Williams said of the high volume of 3-point attempts. “We probably fell prey in the wrong way to thinking that was what we want to be about, and I don’t think long term any team can be about that.”