By: Johnny Moseman
The University of Maryland men’s basketball was finally back in action Saturday as they beat Catawba College 95-61 in an exhibition game.
This a very different Terrapin roster than we saw leave the court in Kansas City after a loss to Kansas in the Sweet 16 of last year’s NCAA Tournament. After losing four starters from last year’s lineup, the Terps had to find new ways of scoring. And that’s what head coach Mark Turgeon did. Turgeon brought in three freshmen, Anthony Cowan, Kevin Huerter and Justin Jackson, and one transfer, L.G. Gill.
“We had a lot of young guys play,” Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon said. “We had a lot of new guys play a lot of minutes and we looked like we played together before.”
Cowan, was the star of today’s game. After Melo Trimble left the game and went to the locker room with an ankle injury, Cowan stepped in and was spectacular. Cowan ended with 15 points, but the more impressive number was his five assists. Cowan was the Terps’ offensive motor today and he was the one making them go.
Trimble’s injury is “nothing serious,” according to the team and he should be fine in a couple of days. Trimble had zero points, two assists, and three turnovers in nine minutes of action.
“Melo will be fine,” Turgeon said. “If this was a real game, he would’ve kept playing. We just have to get him ready for Friday.”
The Terps looked very sloppy at times tonight, with 23 turnovers as a team. Things started to pick up at the end of the first half as the Terps went on a 10-0 run at the end of the half. They didn’t look back after that as they opened up things more in the second half.
Huerter was known for his ability to shoot lights out any night in high school and he showed that today’s exhibition. Huerter had eight points on 3-9 shooting, including 2-6 from three. Huerter also led the team with six assists in today’s exhibition. Justin Jackson, an original UNLV commit, added 13 points, six rebounds and three blocks for the Terps.
Another huge chunk of the Terps scoring came from Jared Nickens. Nickens had 17 points while shooting 3-6 from three. Nickens’s role this year has been improved drastically, as he will be called upon to be one of the team’s go-to scorers this year.
Nickens knocked down three three-pointers today, which is a great sight to see, because Nickens struggled through stretches last year. He seemed to have more confidence this year and that comes with seeing more of your shots go in.
The same can be said for senior Damonte Dodd, one of the team’s leaders this year. Dodd has been asked to do minimal scoring in his first three years at Maryland, but this year the team needs him to score more than he ever has, due to the Terps new look frontcourt after the departure of Diamond Stone and Rob Carter Jr. Today, Dodd did more scoring, dropping eight points and grabbing 10 rebounds.
Dion Wiley, who saw his first minutes since the 2015 NCAA tournament game versus West Virginia, received a loud, cheering ovation from the crowd when he entered the game. Wiley returned with a statement, totaling 12 points on 4-7 shooting, including 2-3 from behind the arc.
“It’s going to be big this season to have Dion back,” junior guard/forward Jared Nickens said. “He played well but we all just have to continue to get better.”
Newcomer L.G. Gill also had double digit scoring numbers today as he dropped 13 points and grabbed 3 rebounds. Gill, a graduate transfer from Duquesne, is expected to be one of the Terps top big men, especially now that Michal Cekovsky and Ivan Bender going through injuries right now.
Cekovsky injured his ankle last night during practice, Turgeon said, and he is day-to-day as of right now. Bender is dealing a fractured wrist that came last week during practice and is out indefinitely.
Maryland opens their season as the number 25 ranked team in the country and their first game of the season comes next Friday against American University at XFINITY Center in College Park.
