Rodney Rice’s prowess as a scorer prompted his promotion to Maryland men’s basketball’s starting lineup after just four games coming off the bench. Turns out his ability to hamper opponents’ ability to score is perhaps just as crucial.
The sophomore shooting guard scored 10 of his 15 points in the second half to ignite the Terps’ 69-66 win against visiting Nebraska at Xfinity Center in College Park. He added two rebounds, two assists and his first block of the season.
Rice was also the primary defender on Cornhuskers senior shooting guard Brice Williams. Entering the game averaging 18.9 points and having logged eight 20-point games, Williams scored 14 points on 6 of 14 shooting, including a 0 of 3 outing from 3-point range.
Rice’s defensive performance caught Maryland coach Kevin Willard’s attention as much as his offensive efforts.
“More than anything, I’m really proud of the way he’s defending,” Willard said of the Virginia Tech transfer. “Brice Williams is a heck of a player, and he spent 30 minutes on him really battling. He made some tough shots, but [Rice] made him take tough shots, which is really good. So Rod’s been really progressing. For a guy that only played eight games his first year and sit out a year and now have to go through this league, night in and night out I think he’s doing a great job.”
Here are three observations from Sunday’s result.
Has Derik Queen hit the proverbial freshman wall?
The freshman prodigy has enjoyed more success than failure this winter for Maryland (14-5, 4-4 Big Ten). And when he has stumbled, he’s been able to bounce back with another reminder why he is a projected first-round pick in the 2025 NBA draft.
But Queen’s 3-point showing against Nebraska (12-6, 2-5) was perhaps a reminder that he is still young and feeling his way through the difficulties of playing in the conference. The center from Baltimore had as many turnovers as points although he did grab seven rebounds, which was tied for second on the team.
In four of his last six starts, Queen has fallen short of cracking the 10-point mark, scoring four points in a 75-69 loss at Washington on Jan. 2, eight in a 79-61 upset of then-No. 22 UCLA on Jan. 10, nine in a 76-74 overtime setback at Northwestern on Thursday, and then Sunday against the Cornhuskers.
Willard cautioned against jumping to conclusions about Queen’s ability to hold up for the remainder of the season.
“I think everyone just needs to take a deep breath and realize he’s a freshman going against fifth-year players,” he said. “He’s as talented a player as there is, and he’s going to be in that three-letter league pretty soon, but we’re asking a freshman to do a whole lot in a league that’s full of fifth-year, COVID guys, physical guys. He’s fine. He’s going to figure it out, he’s a smart player.
“He’s playing a ton of minutes. He played a ton of minutes the other night at Northwestern. So he’s going to struggle at times. This league will make you struggle. He understands that. The players in this league, especially right now, with the way we still have the COVID year, he’s going up against fifth-year guys that have been through this league, that are going after him, and he’s still playing good. It’s just that his production is going to be a little bit down just because this league will make you do it.”
With senior power forward Julian Reese collecting eight points, 10 rebounds, four blocks and two steals, the Terps’ duo in the post was held to less than 20 points for only the second time this season. Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg said Queen and Reese make up “arguably the best frontcourt in the Big Ten.”
“The biggest thing was to try to battle as much as we can,” he said. “I thought our double teams were sharp, I thought we rotated out well. I thought they hit some contested threes against us. [Fifth-year senior small forward Selton] Miguel got it going on us, but I thought we were right there on a couple of those. And [junior point guard Ja’Kobi] Gillespie is having a heck of a year. We had to go out there [against] two of the top guys in the game with how we were going to try to slow them down.”
The game nearly turned in the last four minutes
When Reese, a Randallstown native and St. Frances graduate, dropped in a layup with just over five minutes left in the second half, Maryland owned what seemed to be an insurmountable 66-57 advantage.
Undeterred, Nebraska scored nine unanswered points capped by two free throws by Williams to tie the score at 66-66 with 1:02 to go. Then Gillespie nailed a layup with 40 seconds remaining, Reese made a steal near midcourt that led to Rice converting one of two free throws, and Cornhuskers junior shooting guard Connor Essegian missed an off-balance 3-point attempt from the top of the key with three seconds left to essentially end the threat of a comeback win.
Willard acknowledged that he would have preferred to dump the ball inside to either Reese or Queen in those frantic moments, but that Nebraska’s lane-clogging defense forced other options.
“You just can’t come down and throw it to the post,” he said. “I think that’s what’s always made Fred’s teams really good. Towards those stretches of the game, you don’t have post play. So we rode Ja’Kobi. I thought we settled for a couple shots, but give them credit. I really thought they did a good job of buckling down, getting stops, and getting out in transition.”
Hoiberg cited the Terps’ defense for forcing the Cornhuskers to settle for a low-percentage shot to knot the score.
“We had an action called. We just didn’t get the cut across the free-throw line,” he said. “We wanted to get a quick two, that was the goal of the play. Get down and get a quick two and call the timeout and get a press set up and play from there. But again, that’s on me when we weren’t as organized as we needed to be.”
Jordan Geronimo’s value went beyond his final numbers
The fifth-year senior small forward went four games without scoring a point and finished with only two against Nebraska. But when he was on the floor, he provided a much-needed jolt.
Sixty-eight seconds after being inserted into the game with about four minutes left in the first half, Geronimo grabbed an offensive rebound, drained a putback layup, and drew a foul (although he missed the free throw that would have completed a 3-point play).
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Later, he snatched another rebound after Miguel blocked a layup attempt by Cornhuskers senior power forward Andrew Morgan.
In the final minute, Geronimo blocked senior point guard Rollie Worster’s layup and then collected another offensive rebound. The Terps eventually took a 37-35 lead into halftime, and Geronimo had a hand in the development.
“When I get sent into the game, I know what’s needed of me,” he said. “I was just happy I was able to provide that energy off the bench and help my team.”
Geronimo, who was on the floor for 11:10 after playing about six minutes in the last four games, accumulated a season-high seven rebounds and two blocks. After missing four games in November and December due to a hamstring injury, Geronimo’s verve was a boon for Maryland and Willard.
“I had a good conversation with Jordan the other day – missing three weeks in early to mid December is really tough, and [junior power forward] Tafara [Gapare] played really well – but just for him to stay ready because I have so much confidence in the fact that if we need energy and we need defensive stops, he’s our guy,” Willard said. “We needed some energy, and I thought Jordan was phenomenal in the last four minutes of the first half and really changed the complexion of the game.”
Have a news tip? Contact Edward Lee at eklee@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/EdwardLeeSun.
