SPOKANE, WASHINGTON — Everything felt a little faster.
The passes seemed to whiz quicker. Each trip down the court had more pace. Terrapins men’s basketball center Diamond Stone was getting his first taste of March Madness.
It was fun, he said, but at times it felt overwhelming. So when the No. 5-seed Terps emerged from the locker room after halftime Friday, senior guard Rasheed Sulaimon pulled the rookie aside.
“Take your time,” Sulaimon told him.
Stone heeded the veteran’s advice. Though he finished with just four points while battling foul trouble, coach Mark Turgeon lauded his defense. Perhaps more importantly, though, Stone now knows what to expect heading into the Round of 32 matchup with No. 13-seed Hawaii.
“The first game, I could see a lot of anxiousness in him,” Sulaimon said Saturday. “Seeing him today, I could already see the maturation process a little bit in a day. I know tomorrow he’ll be ready for us to go.”
Sulaimon, who has emerged as the Terps’ vocal leader in his lone season in College Park, saw his freshman self in Stone on Friday. A self-described “reckless youth,” Sulaimon said Stone has some of that in him.
And playing in a game with the season on the line, he could tell Stone needed to relax.
“It’s antsy because you are thinking like, ‘Wow, we are down right now or they are coming back,'” Stone said. “It’s win or go home. It’s nervous.”
Stone said he didn’t really grow up watching college basketball, but he’d heard the madness stories. As South Dakota State trimmed an 18 point deficit to two with about a minute left, it looked like he and the Terps might be victim to another.
But they staved off the Jackrabbits comeback bid to secure a spot in the Round of 32, meaning Stone would have another shot to try to shine on the sport’s biggest stage.
“I’m new to this,” Stone said. “I’m excited for it.”
Though he struggled to generate looks against South Dakota State’s frequent double teams, Stone locked in at the other end of the floor, an area he’s made strides this season. He was often tasked with guarding Jackrabbits leading scorer Mike Daum, who had to take 13 shots to get his 16 points.
“Diamond was terrific yesterday,” Turgeon said Saturday. “His defense was outstanding. That kid was a heck of a player.”
The fifth-year coach said Stone wouldn’t have been able to turn in that type of performance two months ago. It was another step forward for the highly touted recruit who was ESPN’s No. 6 overall player.
Stone came to College Park in hopes of raising the Terps’ second national title banner.
March has arrived now, and he’s getting his chance to do it.
“I feel like this team right here,” Stone said, “this is a national-championship team.”
