Rodney Rice stepped into the right corner moving away from the screen set by freshman big man, Derik Queen. Queen flipped the ball to Rice in the corner and he rose up, his right leg swinging out as he shot.
Rice buried the three-pointer — one of three he made throughout the game — helping Maryland defeat Mount St. Mary’s Friday night.
The Virginia Tech transfer is five for ten from behind the arc this season, after not playing a single minute last season.
“Knocking the rust off, it’s just staying with it, being consistent every day in practice, playing hard as well,” said Rice postgame. “It felt good to be out there.”
Rice is one of seven new players on a rebuilt Maryland team. Rice and his fellow newcomers are providing a much needed boost to the Terps outside correcting the woes of a season ago when they ranked second to last in the Big Ten in three-point percentage.
Maryland made it a point in the offseason to build a roster capable of capitalizing on three-point opportunities by bringing in transfers Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Jay Young, Selton Miguel, and Rice. All four have a career three-point percentage over 30 percent.
“That’s why we brought them in,” head coach Kevin Willard said when asked about the transfers’ importance to the improvement of the team’s three-point shooting.
Through two games last season, the Terps shot 21 percent from three-point range making eight total threes out of the 39 they shot. Maryland drained nine in its game against the Mountaineers on Friday and are shooting 30.4 percent from deep.
“This team will shoot the basketball much, much better,” said Willard after the game against Manhattan. “… I know we got guys that can make shots, so I’m not that worried about that.”
The Terps’ four transfers are responsible for 13 of Maryland’s 14 made three-pointers this season, contributing to a dominant Maryland offense that — through its first two games — has scored a combined 165 points. Their 165 points is 36 more than they scored a season ago.
Maryland’s improvement from three-point land is vitally important to the success of its offense, especially when both Queen and Julian Reese are on the court together.
The pair are dominant figures in the paint causing defenses to crowd them down low and double team the post. That requires Maryland’s shooters to keep defenses honest by making their outside shots, so that their big men can dominate the paint.
“If we’re knocking down threes consistently like that they can’t double [Julian Reese] or Derik [Queen] when we throw it in there,” Gillespie said postgame against Mount St. Mary’s.
Although it’s very early in the season, Maryland is showing offensive improvement within the Big Ten stat sheets.
The Terps are tied for ninth in three-pointers made and 12th in three-point percentage this season. Maryland is also ninth in points per game improving on last season’s 13th place finish amongst Big Ten teams.
Maryland will look to continue its hot shooting against Florida A&M Monday night, before welcoming No. 18 Marquette to College Park on Friday.
