Forward Jon Graham rises above Bowie State opponents to lay in the ball during the second half when the Terps defeated Bowie State 89-47 inside Xfinity Center on Nov. 8 2014.
The Terrapins men’s basketball team hardly experienced defensive missteps as it held Bowie State to 4 of 34 shooting in the first half of Saturday’s exhibition. Yet after watching forward Jon Graham patrol the paint, coach Mark Turgeon felt he could impart a lesson when he stepped into the locker room at halftime.
“If everybody played as hard as Jon and everybody communicated as well as Jon,” Turgeon told the Terps, “people would have a real hard time scoring on us.”
Turgeon has expressed consistently that type of praise for Graham since the 6-foot-8 Baltimore native transferred to this university from Penn State before last season. The forward’s presence was especially noticeable to teammates in Saturday’s resounding 89-47 victory over the Division II Bulldogs in the Terps’ final tune-up before Friday’s season opener.
Many of the nearly 18,000 red seats at Xfinity Center were vacant for the preseason bout Saturday, and when Bowie State moved the ball on offense, Graham’s voice boomed through the gym. The fifth-year senior was shouting directions to the younger guards defending the perimeter.
“You want to be loud so the whole team can hear you,” Graham said. “The more you talk and the more you communicate, the easier defense becomes. Teams run different sets; teams are coming at you fast. The best thing you can do is to talk and communicate because that’ll get you in the right place you need to be, doing the right rotations.”
Graham’s contributions didn’t stem just from his vocal cords, though. The sociology major had a game-high 11 rebounds, blocked two shots and scored eight points.
After he arrived in College Park last fall, Graham played a limited role early in the Terps’ 17-15 campaign. He ended the season with two starts and averaged 1.6 points and 2.4 rebounds in 10.4 minutes per game.
When interior players Charles Mitchell and Shaquille Cleare transferred from this university in the offseason, it left the Terps searching for contributions in the frontcourt. In the Terps’ first exhibition game, sophomore Damonte Dodd started at center, but Saturday, Turgeon opted to put Graham and 7-foot-1 forward Michal Cekovsky on the floor to begin the game.
But whether he entered off the bench or started, Graham impressed his coach with his high motor.
“It’s infectious, the way he’s playing,” said Turgeon, who went on to call Graham a “pleasant surprise so far.”
Graham has never been lauded as a dynamic offensive player, but he carved out an imprint on that side of the floor Saturday, too. He scored six of his eight points from the free-throw line — he was 6-for-9 (66.7 percent) — and helped the team sustain crisp ball movement in its new motion offense.
“He gets our offense,” Turgeon said. “He has a good feel for it. He knows where the holes are for him; he knows where he needs to be; he knows his limitations.”
Through the preseason, Graham has impressed especially on the glass, an area in which the Terps struggled last season. In fact, Turgeon has put special emphasis on rebounding in practice this season.
“If it’s a soft box out, you got to run. If you don’t box out, you got to run. If they get a rebound, you got to run,” guard Dez Wells said Friday. “So you got to find a way.”
Graham has been the one securing those boards for the Terps so far. He leads the team with 17 total rebounds through two exhibitions, and the next closest Terp, forward Jake Layman, has pulled down 12 boards.
But while Graham’s rebounding helps his teammates avoid extra punishment in practice, the veteran, like his coach, also hopes younger players are studying how he approaches each game.
“I’m just trying to be the best example I can,” Graham said. “I hope they are following my lead as far as talking on defense, being in the right place in rotations and, all in all, just playing hard. I hope I have a good effect on them.”
