It hasn’t been an ideal senior campaign for Evan Smotrycz.

That’s no secret.

The Terrapins men’s basketball forward missed eight games in nonconference play because of two lower-body injuries — a broken foot and sprained ankle. He then suffered a hairline fracture in his thumb against Michigan State on Jan. 17, forcing him to wear a cast over his hand for several weeks.

Smotrycz is shooting less than 30 percent from three and averaging fewer than six points per game for the first time in his college career. Home fans have often booed the senior when he enters games at Xfinity Center, and with his decrease in offensive production, Smotrycz has struggled to find a role within coach Mark Turgeon’s 10-man rotation.

But after an emotional pregame Senior Day ceremony at Xfinity Center translated into a sluggish start for the No. 14 Terps against Michigan on Saturday, Turgeon turned to Smotrycz for contributions on the both ends of the court. And the 6-foot-10 forward delivered his best all-around performance of the 2014-15 season.

That it came against the Wolverines, Smotrycz’s former team, makes it that much sweeter. So Turgeon made a point to give credit to the Reading, Massachusetts in the locker room after the win, the Terps’ ninth at home in nine conference games.

“Evan, I know it’s been a tough year, but you were phenomenal today,” Turgeon recalled saying to Smotrycz in front of the team. “Congratulations.”

In recent years in both College Park and Ann Arbor, Michigan, Smotrycz’s biggest asset was his scoring ability. On Saturday, though, he still managed to have a massive impact despite finishing the contest with zero points on 0 of 5 shooting, a performance that stretched his field goal drought to three games.

The first area in which Smotrycz shined was his post defense. Forward Michal Cekovsky injured his left knee during pregame warm ups while forward Damonte Dodd picked up his second foul early in the first half. That left undersized big man Jon Graham and Smotrycz as possible options down low.

Turgeon went with Smotrycz at center, and it paid off. In 27 minutes, most of them spent at the five, Smotrycz routinely thwarted Michigan’s efforts to take advantage of him in the post. Ricky Doyle, the Wolverines’ primary inside threat, finished the contest 2 of 7, while Max Bielfeldt, coach John Beilein’s second post option, went 2 of 6.

Michigan continued to go inside against Smotrycz, which left the senior forward dumbfounded.

“I don’t think they scored when they did that,” said Smotrycz, who finished the game with nine rebounds, a season high. “So I don’t know why they kept going to it.”

Smotrycz said one reason he was effective in the post defensively was because he knew the Wolverines’ play calls and therefore knew when the ball was coming to his man.

Above all else, though, the senior put forth the necessary effort.

“I’m just trying to play with as much energy as I can,” Smotrycz said. “Just affect the game in whatever ways I can. And if I’m not making shots, then I have to do something else.”

The second area in which Smotrycz had a huge influence on the game Saturday was in helping the Terps break down Beilein’s signature 1-3-1 zone — a defensive scheme the senior learned thoroughly during his time in Ann Arbor.

The Terps had virtually no success against the zone in the first half and committed seven turnovers in the opening 20 minutes. But in the second half, Smotrycz’s vision and passing ability helped the Terps break down the Wolverines’ defense. By the under-8 media timeout in the second half, Beilein had all but abandoned the zone and gone almost exclusively with man-to-man.

Smotrycz finished with a season-high four assists, two of which went to guard Jared Nickens for crucial second-half three-pointers.

“We put Evan in there, and he was dialing it up,” Turgeon said. “With the pass fakes, [he] sucked the defense in and made plays.”

It’s been a long road this season for Smotrycz, trying to find his way on a star-studded squad fit with shooters and scorers all over the floor.

But it appears he’s found his role. And it couldn’t have come at a better time.