He's a wide receiver, so Randy Moss isn't really used to playing defense.

Luckily for him, they don't play defense in the USBL.

So while Moss was understandably rusty during his debut with the Pennsylvania ValleyDawgs -- scoring seven points, making just one of five free throws and turning the ball over four times -- he didn't look like a confused rookie. In fact, on a trigger-happy team that features a whopping eight players averaging double figures, Moss fits right in. He's extremely versatile, skilled at both Offense and Waiting To Be On Offense.

The ValleyDawgs pulled out a thriller, 113-112, but then again, people paid about as much attention to the game as they will to Marshall's football program this season. Everyone was there to see Minnesota's moonlighting wideout. Although the 6'4" Moss didn't tower over his opponents like he does on the gridiron, he was still able to run a few fly patterns.

"I threw one full-court pass way over his head, and he still got to it," said point guard Kareem Reid, who played at Arkansas. "I threw that thing like a football."

The game was half pickup game and half circus, with Moss being the main event in both. For every ValleyDawg jersey you saw in the stands (okay, I didn't actually see one), there were 10 purple No. 84s. Dawgs coach Darryl Dawkins finally submitted to fans' pleads and first subbed Moss in with 4:54 left in the first quarter. The P.A. system was blaring the theme from Monday Night Football, and Moss -- wearing his football number -- loped onto the floor.

The first shot he took was a 3, which he canned, but he did so with his foot on the sideline. (You'll never see that come November.) Moss committed two more quick turnovers before settling down, but never really found his shooting stroke. In fact, the hottest Moss got all evening was when the ValleyDawgs wheeled out the school-dance smoke machine to spice up the player introductions. By the time they called his name, Moss was thoroughly enveloped in a cloud of smoke that would make high school buddy Jason Williams proud.

But despite an average outing, the USBL's highest-paid player showed plenty of promise. At the end of the first half, he slashed through the lane and flipped in a sweet left-handed lay-in while getting fouled.

But perhaps Moss' smoothest move of the evening was the stealth exit he made shortly after the final buzzer sounded. Moss made it no secret that he would be granting no interviews, but he knifed out the arena's back door after signing a handful of autographs for the waiting kids. He bounded into a waiting limo, leaving only a promise to Dawkins that he would play another game. Moss isn't saying when that game will be, but he'll be back. And odds are, he'll be even better than he was tonight, because he'll have the kinks worked out.

But in the meantime, here's hoping the kinks in his mega-million-dollar contract get worked out too. Because Moss couldn't buy a bucket from the line Thursday night.

Andy Latack covers college basketball for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at andrew.latack@espnmag.com.