Maryland men’s basketball coasted to their second-largest win in program history after defeating Canisius, 108-37, on Tuesday night to get back in the win column. While seven Terps reached double figures and eleven different players scored at least one field goal, the biggest change of the night was the change to the starting lineup. Bringing DeShawn Harris-Smith off the bench, Rodney Rice drew his first career start in the win in a move that head coach Kevin Willard said he’s been “thinking about for a while now.”
“Rodney protects the big guys a little bit better than Deshawn [Harris-Smith]. But we were struggling a little bit in the second ten minutes of every half because Jay [Young] was going out there and he was the only ball handler out there,” Willard added.
Rice said he learned he’d become the fifth starter “the first practice after Marquette.”
“In practice, I was with the first five, so not so not really,” Rice said when asked whether he was surprised.
Rice finished with 13 points on 4-of-9 shooting, the fourth time in five games that the Virginia Tech transfer has finished in double figures. DeShawn Harris-Smith, meanwhile, added five points and four rebounds in 21 minutes as he played both on and off the ball through the second half.
“I needed another point guard out there, and for me, it just made more sense to be able to put the ball into DeShawn’s hands, let him be able to make plays with the basketball on the break where he's really good, give him a little bit more time with the ball than off the ball. We’ve worked -- that's how we practice. So I was never getting to that in the game because of starting him. So it's just a simple let's protect the big guys with Rodney and let's protect the second unit and give Deshawn a better chance of being successful and putting the ball in his hands.”
More from the players postgame:
Reese on his first-half double-double, early production
“It means a lot. Coach having that confidence in me for the first play to kind of break the ice after our off days. I feel like the important part for me and like the growth for me was not like taking it up on like two guys after coming off a game was not as much shots. And I feel like that's growth for me. As far as us coming together, I feel like we learn to play with each other and learning where each other want to ball and stuff like that. I feel like it's all coming together.”
Miguel on whether the Marquette loss provided extra motivation
“It makes us grow. It’s good that early it’s early in the season for us so we can see what we did wrong and we can improve on it. Just coach Willard just keeps saying, keep improving every day, taking it day by day so we can improve [on] both ends of the court.”
Rice on the biggest change after being named a starter
“Playing that first four minutes, just energy level, just trying to maintain my energy level and just keep competing really. Nothing really big really changed.”
Rice on whether starting changes his prep or role
“I don't think my role really changes. I'm gonna play my game regardless and play within the team. I'm not gonna change my game just because I'm starting.”
On whether it was a point of emphasis to get the ball inside
Miguel: “For sure. They had no shot blockers over there today. We emphasized keep the bigs happy and keep the ball. You know, it was consistent with it. So we just keep feeding him.”
Rice: “If I was in there position I would want the ball every play as well. They [didn’t] have [anybody] to match their size and intensity so we just kept feeding them.”
Reese on being part of the second-largest win in program history
“It’s great, especially coming off of a disappointing loss the other day. It feels good to have guys that I know can bounce back so quickly and just set the tone and put us on notice like that.”
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