With just under nine minutes remaining in the Maryland men’s basketball team’s game against Michigan State on Saturday, guard Anthony Cowan received a pass from center Damonte Dodd while cutting under the basket. Cowan finished a reverse layup as guard Kyle Ahrens knocked him to the ground, causing the 17,950 fans at Xfinity Center to let out a loud cheer.
Guard Melo Trimble scored six points in the first half and Maryland trailed by one at intermission, but Cowan helped the Terps play more aggressive in the second frame before Trimble scored the game-winning 3-pointer with 0.8 seconds remaining. The freshman finished with 11 points, five assists and five rebounds in Maryland’s 63-60 Senior Day victory to clinch the No. 3 seed and double-bye in the Big Ten tournament.
“He did a really good job on both ends,” Trimble said. “They really like to run the court. He was able to really control their point guard and also run our team. He really took a lot of pressure off me. I didn’t have to bring the ball down court and always have to create my own.”
Coach Mark Turgeon said Cowan is one of the quickest players in the Big Ten, and he’s helped set the tone for the Terps’ offense this season. But his performances have dipped at times throughout Big Ten play, struggling to score over bigger defenders at the basket.
In Maryland’s 79-59 win over Rutgers on Tuesday, though, Cowan set the pace for his team at the start, scoring seven points in the opening 10 minutes.
The rookie got out to another hot start Saturday, finishing an and-one layup for the contest’s first points, and staring at Maryland’s student section before draining the free throw. About one minute later, he found Dodd for a reverse layup.
With under four minutes to play, Cowan, who entered as a 29.3 percent 3-point shooter, sunk a trey and held three fingers in the air while backpedaling on defense.
But Cowan set up the offense on almost every possession at the beginning of the second half. With the game tied at 33 and under 16 minutes remaining, he drained a floater in traffic. On the next possession, the six-foot, 170-pound guard drove into the lane and passed to guard Kevin Huerter for an open 3-pointer that started a 9-2 run.
“It was clicking for him tonight,” Dodd said. “He was making shots, driving … and making free throws. That’s what Anthony Cowan can do, and that’s what he did tonight.”
While Cowan’s last field goal came on his and-one reverse layup, he set up his teammates for opportunities in the final eight minutes. He passed to forward Justin Jackson for an open 3-pointer with about seven minutes remaining, and about a minute later, his bounce pass helped forward Ivan Bender gain position on his defender for an easy layup.
Cowan took on more a scoring role when he was younger but developed as a facilitator while playing for his AAU team, D.C. Assault, and at St. John’s Catholic High School. His ability to control the game was one of the main reasons Turgeon recruited him. Saturday, the Bowie native flashed his versatile skillset.
“Anthony was really good,” Turgeon said. “He was getting mad at me because he wanted the ball a little more.”
Turgeon also lauds Cowan as one of the team’s best defenders, and Saturday, he limited the Spartans’ starting guards to nine points. That took pressure off Trimble, one of Cowan’s mentors, to seal Maryland’s regular-season finale victory.
“He’s going to be a good player,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. “He’s a mini Melo. But he ain’t Melo, though.”
