Graduate student guard Mir McLean logged only four minutes in Maryland women’s basketball’s loss to Illinois on Feb. 2. It marked the Terps’ fourth loss in five games and their first to an unranked opponent this season.

The veteran couldn’t carve out a meaningful impact in the 66-65 loss, with two rebounds serving as her only impression on the game. After the loss, coach Brenda Frese openly challenged her bench play — specifically McLean.

“Mir’s got to have better practices, better games,” Frese said. “As an upperclassman, she’s got to get there for us. ”

Four days earlier against Penn State, McLean notched just two points and was responsible for five of Maryland’s 23 turnovers. She played only nine minutes after averaging 15.1 in the previous 20 games, her first single-digit playing time total in nearly a month.

Frese continued to shorten the guard’s playing time, giving her just 11 combined minutes in games to follow against Oregon, Washington and Nebraska.

McLean spoke with Frese during the stretch about expectations, not wanting to wait until the team’s annual end of season exit meetings to address the topic.

Throughout the meeting, Frese reassured her trust in McLean’s abilities while stressing the importance of letting the game come to her. The graduate student has since backed Frese’s trust in increased time the past two games.  “We’re both very competitive, so we leaned on each other in terms of what we [both] wanted,” McLean said. “She was very open about what I had to say … It was easy for me to go in there and talk to her about next steps.”

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Having constant communication and being on the same page with Frese was of utmost significance while searching for mid-season answers, McLean said.

Following a 20-point loss to the Cornhuskers on Feb. 13, McLean got her chance a game later against Michigan and capitalized on it.

She logged 23 minutes against the Wolverines on Feb. 17, more than doubling her combined total in Maryland’s three prior games. McLean’s most impactful minutes came late in the fourth, when she drained a running layup to seal the eventual 85-77 win.

The guard finished with nine points, five rebounds and zero turnovers on a 4-for-4 shooting clip. Her positive-five plus-minus rate was the fifth-best from a Maryland player — and the highest by a non-starter.

When the Terps took the road last Thursday at Northwestern, McLean left her mark off the bench again. This time, she scored six points in a victory while hunting down a pair of steals, her first recorded takeaways in more than a month. Another turnover-free night for the guard marked a bright spot in a night Maryland recorded 17 turnovers.

Prior to Maryland, McLean formed an identity playing for Virginia as a consistent defensive anchor and energy booster.

Despite playing just 26 games in the span and having to sit out the entire 2023-24 season due to a knee injury, she led the Cavaliers in rebounds and steals per game in both 2021-22 and 2022-23.“My defense is something that I’ve taken a lot of pride in,” McLean said. “Defense is consistent and I think it also matches really well with my competitive nature.”

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Maryland originally passed on recruiting McLean out of high school, a decision Frese tabbed a “huge mistake.” The Baltimore native and 25th ranked recruit in the Class of 2020 committed to UConn.

Frese wasn’t going to let history repeat itself when McLean entered the transfer portal the past offseason after four years between UConn and Virginia. The veteran coach reached out with a convincing pitch last spring.

“We didn’t get you back in high school,” McLean recalled her saying, “We need you now.’”

It worked. McLean announced her commitment to Maryland via Instagram in early May, filling the Terps’ final roster spot for the 2024-25 season.

Now with just two regular season games left before tournament play, McLean looks to help lead her home state team to its sixth Big Ten Tournament title  and solidify Maryland’s 20th NCAA Tournament appearance in its last 22 seasons.

“Maryland’s home,” McLean said. “I wanted a fresh start … to do that around my family [and] friends, it was an easy decision.”