Following a lackluster performance against Wisconsin Nov. 30, Nik Caner-Medley retaliated against George Mason Saturday. Within the first four minutes, he scored 11 points to stake the Terrapin men’s basketball team to an early but insurmountable 15-2 lead.
The quick start reflected the aggressiveness the junior forward had demonstrated in preseason scrimmages and exhibition games.
Limited to 24 minutes as the Terps emptied the bench in the second half of a lopsided 78-54 win over the Patriots, Caner-Medley finished with 20 points on 7 of 9 shooting. He’s registered double figures in five of the Terps’ six games and leads the squad with 15.2 points per game.
“Personally, I’ve been through a lot over the summer and I’ve spent so much time in the gym working on my game. Really, what it comes down to is I just want to win so bad this year,” Caner-Medley said.
He said his motivation this season doesn’t concern his statistical decline at the end of last year – he shot 33 percent from the field in the team’s final 12 games.
“I’ve read some stuff about people [saying] I struggled,” he said. “I went back and watched the games in the ACC tournament and the [NCAA] tournament, and I thought in terms of hustle and playing hard, I thought I played some of my best games. And the fact that we won the ACC championship and I’m playing 30 minutes a game, I don’t really feel like it was that negative a situation for me personally.”
Terp coach Gary Williams sees a difference in the junior’s confidence, though.
“He went through a period last year where he wasn’t confident, and he worked hard this summer,” Williams said. “You have to earn the right to be confident. It’s nice if you’re confident, but you’re not confident unless you know you put the work in. And Nik put the work in this summer.”
Caner-Medley said the real difference between now and then is he’s fully healthy for the first time in a while. After ending his freshman season with a dislocated ankle in the NCAA tournament, he spent the summer recovering. Last season, he played through foot and ankle injuries he said limited him down the stretch.
Feeling completely healthy this summer, he added 15 pounds of muscle to his 6-foot-8-inch frame. Instead of rehabbing, he and junior point guard John Gilchrist went to Michael Jordan’s basketball camp where they competed against players from the ACC and other national programs.
“That helped me gain confidence,” Caner-Medley said. “When you’re coming back from injury, it’s so different. This summer, I could just work on my game and not have to worry about that. Just for your whole mentality as you go into the season, it feels so much better to be healthy.”
Williams commented a couple weeks ago on the difference he sees in the forward this year.
“The great thing about lifting weights, it’s not just the bulk,” Williams said. “It gives you confidence that you deserve to be a better player because you put the time in.”
