Last Saturday against Wake Forest, Cliff Tucker again came off the bench to score the points expected of a starter.
Midway through the second half, the former first-stringer hit a 3-pointer to spur a 13-0 run in what ultimately proved be a blowout Terp victory.
Against Clemson and Virginia earlier this year, the Terrapin men’s basketball guard did the same. His three 3-pointers against the Tigers and 13 points against the Cavaliers keyed two other ACC victories for the Terps this season.
And while the senior has become the most potent scorer off a surprisingly consistent bench for the Terps (15-8, 5-4 ACC), he’s not the only one.
Forward Haukur Palsson, who saw limited action at the beginning of the season, has seen increased playing time this month. Against the Demon Deacons, the freshman scored a career-high nine points in 17 minutes, hitting a wide-open 3-pointer and grabbing back-to-back rebounds while the team’s starters caught their breath on the sideline.
As coach Gary Williams continues to tinker with his lineup on a game-to-game basis, his bench has helped the Terps win four of their past five games after a 1-3 start in conference play.
“We feel everybody has the ability to score points,” forward Dino Gregory said. “Any person on any type of day — it could be Cliff, it could be Adrian, it could be myself, Sean and so on. We feel we all have the ability to do it. It’s just when the opportunity arises, somebody has to step up.”
Tucker has scored in double digits eight times off the bench, while guard Terrell Stoglin has three double-digit scoring outputs since the start of 2011.
And in a season mired by the absence of a second scorer to help ease the burden on forward Jordan Williams, it’s hardly a coincidence that some of the Terps’ best performances have intersected games in which they’ve found a hot hand off the bench.
“We are a balanced scoring team,” guard Adrian Bowie said. “Anyone can score 13 to 15 points, other than Jordan, a night. It really just depends on who gets hot at the right time. … Once you get that balance, you really can’t key in on anybody.”
Bowie has carried a good portion of the scoring load this season, managing double figures in all but two of his past 12 games.
But in Palsson, forward James Padgett and a mix of reserve guards, Williams has found a surprising amount of production from relative unknowns.
“When Hawk [Palsson] comes into the game, he brings that level of energy from the bench. That’s great to see,” Williams said. “As long as we don’t have injuries, we have pretty good depth.”
Only two teams’ bench scoring has outpaced the Terps’ own in games since Dec. 1. During that stretch, the team’s band of reserves has combined to average more than 20 points per game, affording the starters some extra leeway and rest.
The Terps’ scoring stability was especially evident against the Demon Deacons. Seven players scored at least seven points or more, and even as Jordan Williams finished with a career-high 27 points, his teammates showed they could follow his lead quite well.
“You have to play like that all the time,” Gary Williams said. “It’s going to be interesting down the stretch [to see] who really steps up for us.”
ceckard@umdbk.com
