be tested against Wake Forest. He had just played his worst game of the season — four points and five rebounds in a loss at Florida State. Boris Bojanovsky, a 7-foot-3 freshman center for the Seminoles, scored a career-high eight points in just 12 minutes off the bench.

"Coming off the Florida State game, I'm sure their scouting report [on Len] was 'Put a forearm in his chest, he's not going to respond,' " Turgeon said as the Terps (16-6, 4-5 Atlantic Coast Conference) prepared for Thursday night's game at Virginia Tech (11-10, 2-6). "So, as his coach, I wanted to make sure he responded. Hopefully the next time he gets a forearm in his chest, he responds without me screaming and yelling. It's part of growing up forformer Maryland and NBA center and forward.

Elmore said he was targeted before developing "the reputation as a guy from New York that didn't take any stuff."

It has helped Len to have two new, bulky frontcourt players to practice with this season — freshmen Charles Mitchell and Shaquille Cleare.

Len is "definitely competitive, and part of it is Shaq beating him up every day," Maryland guard Seth Allen said. "Shaq's a big guy, so having Shaq in practice really makes it that [much] more competitive."

On the court, Len can be hard to read. His expression rarely changes.

Last season, the Ukraine-born player struggled to adjust to the physical nature of the American game and to understand play calls because of his limited English. This season, his coaches and teammates insist there