Morsell making a difference as Maryland's 'X Factor'
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Maryland sophomore Darryl Morsell is a man without a true position on the basketball court. At any given moment, he could be playing the one through four for the Terps, but that doesn’t mean his role isn’t well-understood by his teammates, coaches, and himself.
“My role is to be that guy who can play multiple positions, guard multiple positions, score and stuff like that just to help the team win,” Morsell said March 22 as Maryland prepares to take on LSU in less than 24 hours.
The 6-foot-5, 200-pound Baltimore native is coming off of a season-high 18 points and game-clinching steal in Maryland’s first-round win over Belmont. The narrow two-point win against the Bruins wasn’t just a flash in the pan for Morsell. He has been playing some of the best ball of his college career as of late and has seen his efficiency skyrocket with 14 assists to just one turnover in Maryland’s last four games.
In the four games prior to his recent impressive run, Morsell turned the ball over 14 times and dished out just five assists. But after he and his team played poorly on the road in a 17-point loss to Penn State Feb. 27, a series of messages--one in front of the team and one privately--from Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon helped Morsell turn his season around and become a true glue guy for the Terps.
“[Morsell] had total buy-in after the Penn State game,” Turgeon said. “Threw it right to them the first two plays of the game, they get six points, live ball turnovers. Since then, I don't know what his assist-turnover was [Thursday], 14-1 now in the last four games. So that's total buy-in.
“And I can't remember what game it was, I think it was leading into the Michigan game, so it was probably that same time, I said Darryl Morsell is going to guard the best player on the other team. He's our best defender. We need him to do that. We don't need Darryl to score a lot of points for us, even though he did yesterday, but he has to defend. So I told him in front of the whole team. So I think that was a big moment for Darryl as far as growing up and maturing, and just total buy-in. Total buy-in is very important for young people. If they do that, they usually succeed.”
But that wasn’t Turgeon’s only impactful conversation with Morsell. The two met privately as well and talked about the importance of Morsell’s leadership when it comes to guiding this young Terps team.
“Coach kind of talked to me about being a leader,” Morsell said. “We've got a young team. I'm a sophomore, but I'm one of the older guys on the court most of the time. So rather than just leading with my voice, he wanted me to lead more by example, which I kind of focus in on protecting the ball, trying to defend as best I can, and just stop trying to make like the home run play and stuff like that, and just have confidence in my guys. I'm just trying to lead by example and just help the younger guys throughout this process.”
Morsell has certainly taken his coach’s message to heart and is playing with confidence as Maryland looks to continue its postseason run. Confidence that grew after his clutch performance elevated the Terps to their first NCAA Tournament win since 2016.
“It was big,” Morsell said. “It helped my confidence moving forward, but [my teammates] also gave me confidence throughout the game. At the beginning of the game I was missing some layups and stuff. Defensively I was struggling against [Dylan Windler], but these guys kept me confident, and it helped me, and that's why I had success in the later parts of the game.”
Ahead of their Round of 32 matchup with Maryland, players in the LSU locker room were asked about Morsell. On description was thrown around numerous times: X Factor.
“[Morsell] does all the little things, the dirty things; he is a big X Factor for us,” Turgeon said. “I think it's important. Basically what they're saying is he's not a superstar but he really helps our team go. Darryl has been good. I'm really proud of him the last four games. It's total buy-in on his part.”
While he’s becoming an X Factor for the Terps, Morsell’s teammates use another word to describe him: Toughness. Something Maryland will need to advance to the Sweet 16 on Saturday.
“Darryl is somebody I look to as far as being that tough guy out there,” Terps freshman guard Eric Ayala said. “He carries that mentality on and off the court, and it spreads throughout the team. When we need it, it's brought, and it's a key thing for us.”