Maryland basketball will lean on the whole rather than individuals after key departures

So often in years past, Maryland men’s basketball had a reliable outlet — be that Anthony Cowan the past four seasons or Jalen Smith the past two. There was some certainty around who would take the last shot of a close game, or who could be the game-changing presence down low to stave off an upset.

But now Cowan has graduated and Smith has departed for the NBA draft, leaving two holes in their wake for the Terrapins to fill; or, perhaps more realistically, attempt to patch over.

When the season begins later this month, Maryland will take the floor without its two most productive players from the year before. It’s not as if this team hasn’t been here before, though. Cowan cushioned the blow that followed guard Melo Trimble’s departure, and Smith stepped up after center Bruno Fernando headed for the NBA.

So Maryland will need to do what it has done previously — adjust.

“We’ll be a different team than we’ve been in the past,” coach Mark Turgeon said at Tuesday’s media day. “But Melo left, and we figured it out. And now Anthony’s left, we’ve gotta figure it out again.”

The answer won’t rest on any one player alone. Eric Ayala and Aaron Wiggins, now upperclassmen, will shoulder much of the ballhandling duties and scoring responsibilities. But freshmen Marcus Dockery and Aquan Smart should feature plenty in the frontcourt, too.

Still, for the Terrapins to find much of a rhythm this season, Ayala and Wiggins will need to take steps forward and avoid the sort of slumps that sometimes characterized their sophomore campaigns.

Wiggins and Ayala had hit more than 40% of their 3-pointers as freshmen, yet those marks dropped significantly last season. And over a stretch of 11 games during the middle of the year, Ayala failed to hit double figures.

Those maladies are in the past, and as juniors they feel ready to carry the increased load. Add in senior Darryl Morsell on the wing, and Maryland feels good about its experience. Even then, that backcourt void may still be felt.

“You really don’t replace Anthony,” Turgeon said. “His toughness, his speed, the bigger the moment, the better he was. Bringing it every day to practice. Playing well in every game — not always shooting the ball well in every game, but always bringing it. So, you don’t replace that. But we have a lot of great players. A lot of really good players that are willing to step into that role. So, it won’t be one guy that does it.”

Without Jalen Smith down low, Jairus Hamilton and Galin Smith will be key additions. Both are transfers — Hamilton from Boston College and Smith from Alabama — and experienced options. Hamilton, who will play mostly as a four, averaged 9.5 points and 4.3 rebounds last year with the Eagles. He watched what Jalen Smith did for the Terrapins in 2019-20 — the freedom he had to leave the paint and knock down triples — and wanted to be part of an offense where he could do the same. Plus, with Galin Smith more of a traditional center, Hamilton should have ample opportunities to create mismatches with his 6-foot-8 frame on the perimeter.

“I’m a guy who can do a lot of different things on the basketball court very well,” Hamilton said. “Just bringing that aspect of being a very versatile player, and the ability to score at different levels and different dimensions.”

The jury is still out on how well the frontcourt will mesh. Hamilton and Smith have had less time to work with their new teammates because of the coronavirus pandemic, which shuttered summer workouts. But Turgeon believes their experience playing high-level basketball at other programs will allow them to pick up his system quickly.

And they could be solid mentors for sophomores Chol Marial and Donta Scott. Marial featured sparingly last season as he recovered from a surgery to alleviate stress fractures in both legs, but Scott showed he can be a physical presence who can also contribute points, averaging 5.9 per game.

In all, it creates a squad that could be defined by the whole rather than the individual.

“I think this will be one of our more complete teams, from the first man to the last man on our roster, where everyone can come in and be impactful for us,” Ayala said. “It’s going to be important that everybody just continues to stay ready, because you never know when it’s going to be your opportunity to help the team out.”

So despite much of the buildup to the season revolving around who’s not on the team anymore — which has in turn decreased the preseason buzz around the group — Maryland believes in who it does have.

It won’t be the same, but different isn’t always negative.

“We’re going to go out there and we’re going to prove ourselves, and play with a chip on our shoulder,” Wiggins said. “And we’ve got the group to do it.”