Terps needed late 21-0 run to beat Mount St. Mary's originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
Midway through the second half of Sunday's game against Mount St. Mary's, Maryland's men's basketball team was in a dicey situation.
For the first time all season, the Terps were trailing late, down 58-56 to the visiting Mountaineers. And this was coming against the worst team they've faced in the early part of the 2020-21 season. Mount St. Mary's is currently ranked 263rd in the country according analytics site KenPom.com, which is much lower than Old Dominion (113) and Navy (194), Maryland's first two wins.
But in crunch time, starting with about eight minutes left in the game, the Terrapins flipped a switch.
Mark Turgeon went to his smallest unit, and it worked wonders on both sides of the court. Eric Ayala, Aaron Wiggins, Darryl Morsell, Donta Scott and Jairus Hamilton combined to go on a 21-0 run, effectively putting the game away and turning a nailbiter into a blowout.
Turgeon was forced to turn to his smaller lineup after transfer big man Galin Smith was called for his fourth foul. Chol Marial, the Terps' starting center, was ineffective all afternoon, so Maryland turned to their other transfer big man, Jairus Hamilton, to play the post.
The Terps have a ton of depth on the roster, perhaps more so than any other team Turgeon has had in College Park. But the biggest question surrounding the team entering the season was about the lack of star power. After six straight seasons of either Melo Trimble or Anthony Cowan there to bail out Maryland late, who would step up when it was needed most?
As it turned out Sunday, the answer may just be "everyone." The Terps have had five players score in double figures in each of their last two games, and a surprisingly-balanced offense has led to historic shooting percentages and comfortable victories in each of the season's first three games.
The Terps were picked to finish near the bottom of a loaded Big Ten conference this season, and it's still too early to say those projections were entirely incorrect. But they've already moved up about 15 spots in KenPom since the season began, and they've looked much better than anyone expected.
The lack of a true center to bang with the big men in the rest of the Big Ten will still be a major problem in conference play, and Maryland still doesn't have anyone trustworthy behind Eric Ayala at point guard. But while they're missing key elements at the game's most important positions, the Terps look stacked at the wing, and their talented, experienced veterans have spent years developing chemistry on both ends of the floor.
When they finally locked in late against Mount St. Mary's, they played as well as any Maryland team has in recent years. If they can tap into that formula more often in the coming months, it may very well end up being a charmed season in College Park.
