Published Apr 1, 2019
Maryland making noise in the NBA: March 18-31
Pat Donohue
Staff Writer

Former Terps hoops stars Kevin Huerter, Alex Len and Jake Layman have been major contributors to their respective NBA teams this season. Huerter and Len are in the regular rotation for the Atlanta Hawks, especially Huerter, who has earned a starting role as a rookie. Layman provides a spark off the bench for the Portland Trail Blazers and has shown his immense potential at times this season.

Tracking their success for the rest of the NBA season, TSR takes a look at how Huerter, Len and Layman have fared recently. Here’s a look at their performances from March 18-31.

Kevin Huerter (2018-2019: 27.3 MPG, 9.5 PPG, 2.8 APG, 3.2 RPG)

Huerter’s performances have been up and down for the past few weeks. He continues to start for the Hawks but his shooting has been wildly inconsistent. Shooting outputs like going 2-for-9 in a loss March 19 to the Houston Rockets, 3-for-12 in a win March 26 against the New Orleans Pelicans and 3-for-9 in an overtime victory March 31 against the Milwaukee Bucks are not some of Huerter’s finest moments this season. But sprinkled in between are efficient performances such as the 14-point (6-for-12 shooting) game the rookie had March 21 in a win over the Utah Jazz. Huerter also turned in a nice showing against Layman’s Trail Blazers March 29. Although Portland won the game by 20 points, Huerter stuffed the stat sheet with 11 points, four rebounds and four assists. Huerter will hope to find his shooting stroke and finish the regular season strong as the Hawks continue to assess how he fits into their rebuild.

Alex Len (2018-2019: 19.7 MPG, 10.6 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 0.9 BLKPG)

Len has been one of Atlanta’s most consistent contributors down the stretch. After scoring just two points in 12 minutes March 19, Len has scored in double figures in each of the Hawks’ last four games including 23 points and six rebound March 31 in a 136-135 overtime win against the Bucks. Len hit three from beyond the arc for the second straight game in his team’s narrow victory over Milwaukee and has proven to be a solid three-point threat over the last month, averaging nearly two from deep per game in March. Len has been contributing on the boards recently, averaging about six rebounds per game in Atlanta’s last four and the 7-foot-1 Ukrainian has also been efficient from the field, shooting 54 percent over that span. Len has not been starting many games for Atlanta as of late and his minutes remain in the 20-25 range, but he has proven over the last month to be one of the Hawks most important contributors off the bench.

Jake Layman (2018-2019: 18.6 MPG, 7.5 PPG, 3.1 RPG)

Layman has really seen his role for Portland diminish over the last month but he is still one of the Trail Blazers’ important pieces off the bench because of his ability to play both ends of the floor. Layman started last week on Monday (3/25) with zero points in 13 minutes of a double overtime win over the Brooklyn Nets. Since then, Layman played in Portland's Wednesday, Friday and Saturday games and scored eight, nine, and 10 points, respectively. He also recorded at least one steal in each of his last three outings. Layman has gone a bit cold from three recently, shooting 0-for-7 from downtown over his last five games, but he is starting to see his minutes creep back with with 20 or more in Portland’s 118-98 win over Atlanta Friday and 99-90 loss to Detroit Saturday.

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