COLLEGE PARK, Md. — There’s an unofficial designation in sports for highly productive two-way players — “stat-stuffers.” After two wins to start the season, it appears the Terps have found their stat-stuffer in sophomore wing Aaron Wiggins.
Last year as a freshman, Wiggins came off the bench for most of the season and averaged 8.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.2 blocks in 23.5 minutes per game. Through two games so far this season, Wiggins is averaging 11.0 points, 9.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 3.0 steals, and 1.5 blocks in 29.0 minutes per game for Maryland. The Greensboro, North Carolina, native had 13 points and a team-high 13 rebounds Nov. 9 against Rhode Island and appeared to be the biggest beneficiary of Maryland’s newly installed 1-3-1 zone defense.
With the game closer than he’d like in the second half and his team not matching the physicality of Rhode Island to that point, Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon made the call to switch to a 1-3-1 zone against the Rams. The Terps narrowly led 41-37 when Wiggins picked up his second of three steals on the night, which helped spark a 16-5 run for Maryland and put the game out of reach for Rhode Island.
Wiggins’ length at 6-foot-6 and athletic 200-pound build inherently makes him the perfect fit for the top of Maryland’s recently unveiled, but so far highly effective, 1-3-1 zone. And that was quite apparent on Saturday night.
“Coach put [the 1-3-1] in because he loves our length, he loves our athleticism,” Wiggins said after his team’s 18-point win on Saturday night. “So putting that 1-3-1 in, we saw that it kind of messed with them a little bit, so I used my length and I just tried to affect those on the top and I was able to get a few steals and get in their heads a little bit and got a big steal. That fast-break kind of changed the game for us. We had a little bit of momentum and were able to get our heads back into the game. Being able to switch from man to a zone and use our length played a really big part for us.”
Turgeon said after his team’s win over Rhode Island that he felt the zone defense helped settle his team down after a slow start and that once the Terps got their break going offensively he saw his squad’s confidence start to build.
But Wiggins wasn’t only using his length and athleticism to create the break, he was also using the extra 20 pounds of muscle he has added to his frame since arriving in College Park to clean up the glass for the Terps and secure his first career double-double.
“Our zone really hurt them; Aaron Wiggins had 13 rebounds that hurt them,” Turgeon said.
Wiggins’ offensive output on Saturday night was equally as impressive as his solid defense seeing as how the shooting guard shot 0-for-6 from three in Maryland’s season-opener.
He followed that up against Rhode Island with an efficient 2-for-5 from beyond the arc to help him net 13 points.
“Coming off a game like that going 0-for-6, of course, you think about it, but my coaches believe in me, my teammates believe in me, so once I saw that first shot go in, of course, the goal opens up a little bit for me and your confidence comes back and you stay locked in,” Wiggins said. “Seeing that go in, my teammates told me to just keep shooting and they’re not passing me the ball in that spot for no reason, so I just continued to shoot it and be confident.”
Wiggins is no longer the lanky kid coming off the bench that he was in his first year in College Park. He has been praised by coaches and teammates for the work he put into his body and game this offseason, as well as his leadership within the locker room.
But perhaps Wiggins’ leap in his activeness on the defensive end early in his second collegiate season shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. It certainly isn’t to Turgeon, who saw Wiggins use a specific tool consistently this offseason in order to up his game on defense.
“There’s a thing called the slide board that I believe in,” Turgeon said. “Skiers use it — Olympic skiers, speed skaters. Aaron lived on it this summer and it has made him so much quicker laterally. It has given him a ton of confidence on defense. It has really helped him. It gives me more confidence because I know Anthony (Cowan Jr.) can really guard, I know Darryl (Morsell) can really guard, and so if [Wiggins] is going to guard that way, it really helps us.”
Wiggins echoed his coach’s sentiment after Saturday night’s game and didn’t hesitate to give the slide board its due credit for his early-season defensive returns.
“It has helped a lot,” Wiggins said. “I mean, defensively I feel like I am able to move side to side, even up and down a little bit; it goes every direction. The game of basketball is about cuts and being able to slide your feet, so it made a huge difference in terms of being able to get stops in the paint.”
