The noise level at Xfinity Center might have reached a peak Saturday when Terrapins men’s basketball guard Dez Wells popped up from his crouch near the scorer’s table and trotted onto the floor about six minutes into a game against Oakland.
Wells, the Terps’ leading scorer, had missed the past seven games while recovering from a broken right wrist, and the healthy ovation hinted at fans’ feelings regarding his return.
Much of Wells’ first game back on the court unfolded in a similar fashion to many of the contests during his month-long absence. Point guard Melo Trimble and forward Jake Layman continued to carry the offensive load early for the No. 15 Terps, and Wells seemed content with a distributing role.
But in the waning minutes of the Terps’ 72-56 win over the Golden Grizzlies, Wells made his presence felt.
The senior scored all 10 of his points in the second half, including a thunderous alley-oop slam off a dish from Trimble with less than five minutes remaining that helped the Terps fight off a late Oakland push and reminded the announced 12,963 in attendance what he can bring to the team.
“He really looked like the old Dez,” Trimble said. “I’m glad to have him back.”
In total, Wells played 22 minutes and shot 5 of 9 from the field in a productive return. He also added four assists and a rebound, as the Terps closed out their nonconference slate.
Meanwhile, Trimble, a freshman, finished with a game-high 17 points and shot 5 of 6 from three. Layman scored 15 points, his 13th straight game in double figures to open the season, and grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds.
“[Wells] takes a lot of pressure of Jake and Melo,” Turgeon said. “You can’t really double-team Melo as much as teams were. The game was probably a lot easier for Melo.”
Trimble, no longer the team’s most heralded healthy scorer, helped the Terps (12-1) build their early lead over Oakland (4-10).
After the Golden Grizzlies cut into the Terps lead, the floor general from Upper Marlboro drilled back-to-back 3-pointers, the second of which came with 4:27 left in the first half and persuaded Oakland to burn a timeout. Out of the break, Trimble intercepted a pass and raced down the floor for a layup that capped a personal 8-0 run. Suddenly, the Terps’ lead had ballooned to 16 points.
“Letting the game come to me and being relaxed,” Trimble said, explaining his approach entering a game in which he posted a career-best in 3-pointers made. “Just like I normally do, but today I was hitting shots.”
With Layman and Trimble combining for 22 first-half points, Wells settled into his role as a facilitator and took just one shot in the first 20 minutes.
But with the Golden Grizzlies keeping the game close, Wells altered his attitude down the stretch.
“Why am I on the court if I’m not going to be aggressive?” Wells thought to himself at halftime. “My game includes me facilitating and stuff like that, but just being aggressive, that’s my nature as a basketball player. So I wanted to just get back to what I do best.”
When Oakland trimmed to the Terps’ lead to nine with just less than eight minutes to play, Wells began dominating the ball.
On the next possession, Wells handled the ball at the top of the key, but then flicked a pass from the top to the corner, where Trimble stepped and buried his fourth 3-pointer of the contest. Wells added another assist, this time on a drive and dish to Layman, about a minute later before driving in for a score of his own.
“He’s just a great player that stepped it up with the game on the line,” Turgeon said of Wells.
When Oakland cut even deeper into the lead several minutes later, Trimble and Wells connected on a game-defining play. The Terps came up with a loose ball under their own basket and Trimble streamed down the floor with Wells running ahead in transition.
Trimble said he was, for a second, hesitant to throw a lob to his senior leader. Wells had just missed a layup, and the two stars had struggled to hook up on several alley-oop attempts in the past.
But Trimble threw it anyway. Wells rose up, secured the ball in a taped-up right wrist and flushed it home.
The dunk buried the Golden Grizzlies, secured the Terps’ fifth straight win and caused fans to let out the only cheer of the night that rivaled Wells’ introduction.
“He brings energy,” Trimble said of Wells. “At certain parts of the game, we was kind of down. But once he came in and told us to pick it up, we picked it up.”
Guard Dez Wells listens to head coach Mark Turgeon during a timeout called during the Terps’ win over Central Connecticut State on Nov. 17, 2014 at Xfinity Center.
Guard Dez Wells celebrates a scoring spree during the Terps’ 93-57 victory over the Central Connecticut Blue Devils at Xfinity Center on Nov. 17, 2014.