As the calendar turns to hoops season in College Park, Maryland men’s basketball has won seven of their first eight games heading into conference play. With stars such as Jahmir Young and Donta Scott departing after a massively disappointing 2023-2024 campaign, Kevin Willard turned the page with multiple transfers and a star freshman entering the fold. Through eight games, the Terrapins sit at 7-1 with multiple blowout victories, a tight neutral site victory against an established program, and a heartbreaking home loss against one of the best teams in the country. The optimism has begun to build at the Xfinity Center and it has revolved around star freshman, Derik Queen. Queen leads the team with 16.5 points per game and also has 8 rebounds per game to start his freshman year; this includes an incredible debut where he scored 22 points and gathered 20 rebounds against Manhattan. Elsewhere, transfers Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Selton Miguel, Rodney Rice have flashed and Julian Reese is doing the Juju Reese thing at the center position. Entering Big Ten play this Wednesday against Ohio State, we take a look at the stock report for Maryland Basketball:
Stock Up
Derik Queen
All of the talk around College Park starts with freshman big man, Derik Queen. As a five-star recruit, Queen had all the hype in the world entering year one for coach Willard. The expectations were warranted as Queen has proven to be one of the best young players in the nation. As mentioned, Queen’s numbers jump off the page with a team-leading 16.5 PPG, 8.0 rebounds per game, 2.8 assists per game, and 1.1 blocks per game. Beyond the numbers is the eye test. Queen has displayed immense confidence with his ability to drive to the basket, take contested shots, and back up opposing defenders. His confidence definitely does not showcase that he is a freshman. Queen has also proven he can go against legit competition with a 24-point performance against Marquette and a 22-point against Villanova. Particularly the Villanova game, Queen began to take over in the second half and willed his team to their most important victory to date.
Another aspect of Queen’s game that was touted coming into Maryland was his vision. This trait has also shown up throughout the first eight games with Queen finding his teammates on fast breaks and wide open in the corner. The combination with Reese down low has been slowly gaining more chemistry with every passing game as the duo looks to feed off of one another. Queen has lived up to and even surpassed expectations thus far. The talent level is there to replicate this over a 30-game season.
Starting Transfers
Coach Kevin Willard has made it well known that the squad will look to be built via the transfer portal going forward as he got burnt last season with the over-reliance on freshmen. Enter guards Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Rodney Rice and forward Selton Miguel. All three had some prestige to their names entering Maryland but were still mostly unproven. Gillespie entered as a stand-out for Belmont in the Missouri Valley Conference, but how has it translated to the next level? Gillespie has been everything Maryland fans have wanted thus far with efficient scoring, great passing ability, and outstanding defense. While he may not be the slasher that Jahmir Young was Gillespie is a great facilitator who averages 3 assists per game. Gillespie has also been a major contributor to Maryland’s improved three-point shooting. Something that bugged Maryland for years has seemingly been restored behind Gillespie’s 37.5% from behind the arc. The junior point guard also creates steals on 3.8% of opponent’s possessions (rank 207 in the country). Gillespie’s efficiency and carefulness with the rock has been a positive development.
Rodney Rice entered as a highly outed 4-star recruit who did not work out in his lone year with Virginia Tech. The sophomore began as the 6th man but has quickly inserted himself into the starting lineup following the Marquette game. Rice has displayed confidence with the basketball in his hands and is the three-point shooter the Terps have been searching for. He currently sits at 40% from behind the arch and has been stuffing the stat sheet with points. His breakout performance came against Mount Saint Mary’s where he notched 28 points. Maryland fans feel comfortable with Rice touting the rock.
Selton Miguel enters as a grad transfer from USF, where he was the most improved player in the American Conference last season. Miguel started rather slow with zero points in his debut and shot just 27% from three through the first three games. The Marquette game did him no favors as well as he finished with 9 points and was forcing shots. Since then, Miguel has revitalized himself to be a fantastic shooter for the squad. In the last two games, he is shooting 58% from behind the line and has put forward his best games as a Terrapin so far. As his confidence grows in the system and on the team, the veteran will be a key piece for Maryland.
Under The Radar Transfers
While a lot of the focus has been put on the transfers who crack the starting lineup, a lot of credit has to be given to Kevin Willard for identifying impactful depth pieces in the portal. Both Jay Young and Tafara Gapare have stepped in to play meaningful minutes and provided the team with solid depth up until this point.
Young enters from Memphis where he received limited minutes. Thus far he has been a great welcome as a backup guard to Gillespie, Rice, and Harris-Smith. Young has averaged 4.4 points in 15 minutes per game up until this point and also averages an assist. His best performance came in the 70-point blowout of Canisius where he tallied 12 points in an extended 17 minutes. Young’s shooting has also improved over the last few games as the threes have begun to fall (67% over the past three games). Young also provides a solid defensive presence with his 9 steals up until this point. Young is a perfect rotational depth guard with some shooting ability and reliable defense.
Gapare comes over from Georgia Tech where he was a regular contributor constantly getting between 15-25 minutes a game. Gapare’s role has grown recently with the absence of Jordan Geronimo, and he has taken advantage. Gapare scored 19 points including a trio of three-pointers against Bucknell last Wednesday in 22 minutes played. Gapare has taken advantage of his minutes when given the chance but only amassed 5 total minutes against Marquette and Villanova combined. With the injury to Geronimo, Kevin Willard has grown confident in the New Zealand native as he has played 22 minutes in each of the last two games. Along with his shooting ability, Gapare has used his size to his advantage to shoot 71% from inside the arch, 19 defensive rebounds (ten in the last two games), seven offensive rebounds (six in the last three games played over five minutes) and has totaled 9 blocks (6 of which came against Alcorn State). Gapare has made his presence known and it will be interesting to see if Willard has more room for him in the rotation once Geronimo returns.
Stock Down
Deshawn Harris-Smith
The prize of the 2023 recruiting class, sophomore Deshawn Harris-Smith has struggled to begin the regular season. DHS improved as his freshman season progressed in 2023-24 and the feeling was that he would translate that into his sophomore campaign. Harris-Smith began in the starting lineup to begin the season but has since slipped out due to the emergence of Rodney Rice. The obvious ding against Harris-Smith was his crucial two missed free throws to tie the game late against Marquette. Beyond that, it has not been much better for the second-year guard as he averages 5.1 points in 21 minutes played. His minutes have been sinking and his confidence must be restored.
Early in the season, Harris-Smith showed the confidence to slash the basket and make some clean finishes on the glass, including a great play to draw the aforementioned foul shots against Marquette. The three-point shooting continues to be a struggle for the youngster as he is shooting just 17% thus far. The ball continues to not be in his hands as he is used on only 15% of Maryland’s offensive possessions. His defensive ability is a strong point and provides value to the squad. Harris-Smith showed flashes of being one of the best slashers on the roster. As the season continues, Harris-Smith can still be a valuable piece for the roster.
The Non-conference Scheduling
Now while the 7-1 start is great on paper, the elephant in the room has been who Maryland has played. Everyone is all for scheduling lower and mid-major teams early on, especially as the transfer portal becomes more apparent, but Maryland may have too many. Maryland has scheduled six teams that are currently ranked 300 or worse in KenPom, including four that are ranked in the bottom 14 teams in the entire country. Scheduling “cupcake” games at this volume hurts both the team once the schedule ramps up and your resume come March. Terp fans look across the country and see big-name teams in high-profile tournaments and non-conference games that draw eyeballs early on. Meanwhile, Xfinity Center has been mostly empty with teams such as Canisius and Alcorn State entering. To be fair, you cannot totally flack Kevin Willard and Damon Evans as Villanova and Syracuse are historic programs but are just having to have down years. However, the sure volume of games against lower-level programs is a little too much. The Marquette game was special and brought early life to Xfinity Center in November, and although it is Maryland’s only loss to date, a four-point loss to a top-5 team is perhaps the best result on Maryland’s resume. These games are not even over yet as Maryland hosts Saint Francis (#321 on KenPom) and Maryland Eastern Shore (#361 on KenPom) in December. Damon Evans and Kevin Willard should look to schedule a higher volume of big non-conference games in the future to A). get the team ready for conference play and B). catch the eyes of the selection committee come March. The start looks great on paper, but who have they really beat?
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