By: MIKE McCURRY
It’s early, but the post-Melo Trimble era has been a smooth transition for Maryland so far. That’s largely due to the play of his protégé.
Anthony Cowan Jr., who played off the ball last season alongside the do-it-all Trimble, now runs the show for the Terrapins at the point guard spot.
After going for a career-high 25 points and 10 rebounds to go along with 5 assists in a 79-65 win versus Butler on Wednesday, the sophomore improved to three-for-three in leading Maryland in scoring this season.
And, while the Terrapins are not yet ranked, they’re one of the Top-25 teams in the country. That’s not really up for debate. On a team that also consists of Justin Jackson and Kevin Huerter, it’s the six-foot Cowan that is the biggest reason behind that statement.
Thought it seemed like Trimble was in College Park for about eight years, he really only spent three seasons on campus before attempting to chase his dream in the NBA. (He went undrafted and is currently playing for the Iowa Wolves in the G League.)
Aside from Trimble’s statistical value—he averaged 15.9 points and 3.9 assists in 104 games at Maryland—one could argue that there was not a more clutch end-of-game performer in America the last few seasons.
Whether the shot clock or the game clock were winding down…on the most critical of possessions…the ball was always in Trimble’s hands…and he delivered nearly every damn time.
In that sense, Cowan channeled his inner Trimble to perfection against Butler.
After missing all five of his three-point attempts thru the season’s first two games, Cowan converted on 3-of-6 shots from behind the arc on Tuesday, with all three of those makes just narrowly beating the shot clock.
The last of those was a 25-footer that put Maryland ahead by eight at the 6:18 mark, extinguishing a mini Bulldogs run. Cowan then proceeded to put the game on ice, nailing eight free throws down the stretch (he finished 12-of-15 from the charity stripe).
“One thing I saw about Melo, he was always poised,” Cowan said to Mike Hill and Steve Lavin on TV afterward. “He never got too rattled. He never let the bright lights get into what he needed to do.”
The apprentice might as well have been describing himself on Tuesday.
***
- Cowan was quick to shout out Maryland freshman Darryl Morsell, whose most valuable asset in 25 minutes off the bench was keeping reigning BIG EAST Player of the Week Kelan Martin in check. Martin, who opened his senior campaign with a pair of efficient 20-point outings, finished with 12 points on 5-of-15 shooting on Tuesday.
- Kamar Baldwin also struggled, going 6-of-21 from the field (including 2-of-12 in the second half) before fouling out at the end. Butler took 20 more shots than Maryland as a result of 20 Maryland turnovers (an ongoing area of concern for the Terrapins) but failed to capitalize–the Bulldogs shot a chilly 34% collectively and didn’t register a single fast-break point despite collecting ten steals.
Photo: @TerrapinHoops
Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter
