Maryland men’s basketball is now four games into its season. They’ve had two blowouts, one win where they pulled away late and one close call against a mid-major.
Here are some early statistical trends that have emerged for Maryland’s sophomore big three after the opening four games.
Anthony Cowan has cut down on his turnovers and improved his rebounding
Last season, Anthony Cowan averaged 3.2 turnovers per 40 minutes but now that figure has fallen to 1.9. Cowan has been more careful with the ball, which is a very promising sign for Maryland. On top of this, Cowan is grabbing a lot more boards. His 5.4 rebounds per 40 minutes last season has shot up to 9.0 so far this season. In fact, he became the third player coached by Mark Turgeon at Maryland to get 25 or more points and 10 or more rebounds against Butler on Wednesday.
Justin Jackson is cold from three
After shooting .441 from deep last year, Jackson has gotten off to an alarming 1-for-10 start this season. It seems highly unlikely Jackson will spend the rest of this season only making ten percent of threes, but it is nonetheless concerning to see that Jackson has gotten off to an extremely slow start. He should be due for a couple games where he goes 3-for-4 or 4-for-5 at some point, but right now Maryland is fortunate his slow start has not contributed to a loss.
Kevin Huerter is getting to the line more but is shooting worse once he gets there
Last season Huerter averaged 1.2 free throws per 40 minutes played. It was the worst rate of shooting free throws for Maryland for anyone got meaningful playing time. (Sorry, Andrew Terrell.) Now, Huerter has more than doubled that total, averaging 3.8 free throws per 40 minutes. He took 28 free throws in 33 games last season, now he has taken 12 in just four games. However, he is only 6-for-12 at the line this year, after making 71 percent of his free throws during the rare occasions he got to the line last season.
We are not even 20 percent of the way into the regular season, so it is still pretty early in the season. There is no guarantee these stats will stay like this once Maryland gets into the thick of the Big Ten schedule.
But as of now, there are definitely some noteworthy trends, so it will be worth seeing if they continue as the season progresses.
