Maryland men’s basketball center Michal Cekovsky has played limited minutes since he returned Jan. 24 from a six-game, ankle-injury hiatus. The junior has competed more than 10 minutes in one of the last six outings.

But Cekovsky flashed his low-post offensive skills late in the first half of Maryland’s 86-77 win over Ohio State on Saturday.

With about four minutes left in the opening period, the Slovakian converted an alley-oop from guard Jaylen Brantley. On the next possession, Cekovsky moved to the basket off a pick-and-roll as guard Melo Trimble threw him the ball. The 7-foot-1, 250-pound center slammed a dunk that brought the 17,950 fans at Xfinity Center to their feet as the Buckeyes called a timeout.

While Cekovsky flashed his offensive prowess in his seven-point performance, he played just 10 minutes. Maryland’s frontcourt has been battling injuries all season, but the rotation is taking form with six regular season games remaining, and Turgeon believes Cekovsky still has room to improve.

Cekovsky “was great,” Turgeon said. “His defense and rebounding were better. He had four defensive rebounds, and he was active. Ceko’s coming and he’s getting more confident with each game, which is great to see.”

[Read more: Maryland men’s basketball fell two spots to No. 23 in the AP Poll]

Center Damonte Dodd, Maryland’s lone starting big man, has often gotten into foul trouble this season, and he did again against the Buckeyes. The senior picked up four fouls in 13 minutes. At times this season, the Terps have struggled to find a replacement for Dodd, especially on defense, but Turgeon now has the option of rotating between four players.

Turgeon felt forward Ivan Bender played the best post defense in the second half, so the sophomore played the most minutes of Maryland’s frontcourt (15) while scoring six points.

Forward L.G. Gill, who averaged 10.1 points per game at Duquesne last season, made his third 3-pointer of the season in the first half. The graduate transfer then capped a run in the second half in which Maryland scored on four consecutive possessions with a layup through contact that put the sellout crowd into frenzy.

“L.G. is going to be a big part of this team for the rest of the season,” Brantley said. “If he gets a lot more confidence and more reps in the game, he’ll play his natural position and his game that he played last year.”