My Takeaways After Two Games in College Park

By: Aaron Robinson

We are two games into the 2021-2022 edition of the Maryland Terrapins, and after 80 minutes of play, there are some encouraging, and some not-so-encouraging things to take away from the teams' first two games.

Mark Turgeon’s group is 2-0 after defeating Quinnipiac 83-69 on Tuesday night, and George Washington 71-84 on Thursday. The Terrapins will welcome Vermont to the Xfinity Center on Saturday, before another home contest against George Mason on Wednesday. But before we get to those upcoming games, let’s unpack what we learned from the first two games.

The days of Donta Scott at center are over.

Last season, Scott played a team-high 37% of his minutes at center for Maryland according to KenPom. This was mainly out of necessity seeing that Maryland did not have the dominant low-post option that they have grown accustomed to having over the last few years. Scott, who stands at 6-foot-8 and weighs 230 pounds, did a pretty good job last season holding his own against some of the mammoth big men in the Big Ten such as Iowa’s Luka Garza, Minnesota’s Liam Robbins (who has since transferred to Vanderbilt), and Illinois’ Kofi Cockburn.

Donta Scott is a career three-point shooter, and will have the opportunity to play his natural role as a pick-and-pop power forward this season. (Maryland Athletics).

He also provided the Terps with a mismatch in the half-court as his ability to stretch the floor often pulled those very big’s away from the basket, which in turn, helped Maryland’s spacing on offense. It also made them more versatile on defense, allowing them to switch more actions, and be more mobile, closing out to shooters on the perimeter.

It did come back to bite them on a few occasions such as when Garza went for 24 points and seven rebounds in a January contest at the Xfinity Center or when Wisconsin’s Micah Potter put up 23 points with 12 rebounds, including four offensive in another January loss at home. But this season, Maryland got back to its roots as they took Qudus Wahab, a 6-foot-11 inch big man from Lagos, Nigeria who transferred to Maryland from Georgetown University in the spring. Maryland also signed 6-foot-9 inch freshman Julian Reese, who played his high school basketball at St Frances Academy in Baltimore, and he has turned out to be a welcomed surprise through two games.

These two additions have pushed Scott back to his natural position at power forward, as he has failed to log a single minute at center through two games. This mirrors Scott’s freshman season, where he played alongside Jalen Smith in the frontcourt and played exclusively as a power forward. Now, this might be wishful thinking, but I don’t think it would be out of the realm of possibility to see Scott even get some minutes at small forward this season.

Scott is a career 38.6% three-point shooter and has the ball skills to play on the perimeter for stretches of games. Should that be the position that he gets the most minutes at? Absolutely not, but once Big Ten play hits and you see some bigger frontcourts such as Purdue’s Zach Edey and Trevion Williams, you might have to play Wahab and Reese together, which could open up some minutes for Scott at the three, but we will see how that pans out down the road.

Julian Reese will be one of the most impactful freshmen in the Big Ten

Though Julian Reese was a top-100 prospect, Mary Turgeon’s recent ineptitude on the recruiting trail left some to wonder if Reese would be able to be productive in his first season in College Park. Since the 2018 class that brought Turgeon Jalen Smith, Aaron Wiggins, and Eric Ayala, the following three classes have seen massive turnover each year. Turgeon’s top two recruits in the 2019 class in Chol Marial and Makhi Mitchell both elected to transfer, as did Mitchell’s twin brother Makhel. Donta Scott and Hakim Hart are the only two remaining members of that class, and though they were arguably the two least heralded, they have turned out to be the best of the five-man class. The 2020 class consisted of James Graham and Marcus Dockery, who have played a grand total of eight minutes combined in two games this season after neither cracked the rotation last year. Graham was initially supposed to be a member of the 2021 class, but he elected to enroll a semester early, joining the Terps in January of 2021 for the second-half of last season.

Needless to say, there was reason for skepticism when it came to the 2021 class, and whether or not Turgeon had anything of substance in the two-man class that included Reese and Ike Cornish, who has yet to check into either of the first two games this season.

Reese though has been impressive in two games as he has averaged 8.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks per game in just 18.0 minutes. Reese has been splitting time at center with Qudus Wahab, who has been a monster down low in two games as he is putting up 17.5 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 2.0 blocks per game on 70.0% shooting from the floor. Reese currently ranks fifth amongst Big Ten players in offensive rebound percentage at 19.0% per KenPom. He has shown an ability to be a beast on the glass, and has looked great running the floor for lay-ups, and also has been impressive as a rim protector.

Julian Reese (Number 10) celebrates a made three-pointer by Ian Martinez during Maryland's 71-64 victory over George Washington. (Maryland Athletics).

Reese won’t have the scoring numbers that other freshmen in the Big Ten have such as Nebraska’s Bryce McGowens or Michigan State’s Max Christie, but his impact offensively, and defensively for Maryland has the opportunity to be just as important this season, especially when the Terps get into Big Ten play.

Will this team have enough shooting?

Through two games, Maryland has gotten two wins and has not shot the ball particularly well in either. In Thursday’s win over George Washington, the Terrapins shot 38% from the floor and 15% from the three-point line, but were able to grind out a 71-64 win. Tuesday was a better performance, but still not overwhelming as the Terps shot 49.2% from the floor and 35.3% from deep. Through two games, Maryland is shooting 24.3% from distance, which ranks 224th among division one schools.

The fact that they were able to win those two games is a positive given the number of upsets that have occurred in recent days, but the Terps cannot expect to continue to shoot like this and beat better teams. My main concern in this area is that the Terps don’t have anyone on their roster who a great shooter. Donta Scott is arguably the team's most consistent shooter, at 38.6% for his career, but he has only made 1.2 three-pointers per game over his tenure in College Park. Ayala is a career 33.3% three-point shooter, and he has gotten off to a rough start shooting the ball this season, at just 23.1% on almost seven attempts per game. Fatts Russell is a career 28.2% shooter from distance, and he has only taken one three-pointer through two games this season. Last but not least, Hakim Hart is a career 27.7% three-point shooter, and he is yet to make one this season.

Eric Ayala led the Terrapins in scoring last season at 15.1 points per game, but he has struggled through two games this season. (Maryland Athletics).

So I ask again, where will the shooting come from this season for a Terps team that last year was among the top-third in the nation in three-point shooting at 35.3% as a team. The Terps lost Darryl Morsell and Aaron Wiggins at the guard spots and Jairus Hamilton upfront. Hamilton shot 43.0% from three last season, and Wiggins shot 35.6% as the two combined for three made threes per game last season. Those three were replaced by Russell, Wahab, and Reese, who have combined to shoot 1-of-2 from three-point territory in two games.

The Terps will have to find a way to get their guards going, namely Eric Ayala who is off to a slow start thus far, and they will also have to get Fatts Russell to take and make three-point shots, otherwise, it could be a disappointing season in College Park.