The Terps took care of business Saturday evening, cruising to an 82-63 victory over a struggling Nebraska team in the second leg of a three-game home stand.
Maryland (14-7, 5-5) was led once again by senior point guard Jahmir Young, who finished with a game-high 18 points. He was one of five Terps in double-figure scoring along with backcourt mate Don Carey (16 points), Donta Scott (12 points), Hakim Hart (11 points) and Patrick Emilien (10 points).
With the win, the Terps are now 11-1 at home, and a perfect 5-0 at home in league play. They will next host Indiana on Tuesday night.
Here are three takeaways from the Terps' win over Nebraska.
Patrick Emilien picks up the slack in the front court
With sophomore big man Julian Reese finding himself in foul trouble early and often versus the Huskers, it meant extended minutes for graduate transfer Patrick Emilien, who took full advantage of his time on the floor Saturday night.
Emilien played arguably his best half of the season in the opening 20 minutes versus the Huskers, going a perfect 2 for 2 from the field and 4 of 4 from the charity stripe, finishing with 8 points, 4 rebounds, a block and a steal in 13 minutes of action.
When Reese picked up his third foul of the game less than four minutes into the 2nd half, Emilien was immediately inserted into the lineup and wasted little time making his presence known once again, playing excellent defense on Nebraska big man Derrick Walker and hitting a pull up jumper to put the Terps back up by 13. Emilien finished with 10 points and 7 rebounds in 25 minutes of action. It was the second-most minutes Emilien has played this season and the first time he has scored in double figures in Big Ten play.
The Terps could very likely use this kind of play from Emilien in their next outing when Indiana and national player of the year candidate Trayce Jackson-Davis come to town on Tuesday.
Carey perfect from three
Perhaps the biggest head scratcher for Terps fans this season has been the outside shooting of Georgetown transfer Don Carey. He came to Maryland having made 104 threes at a 41 percent clip over the past two seasons in the Big East. Yet coming into Saturday's game, he had made just 30 of 107 (28%) of his attempts from beyond the arc this season.
But it all seemed to finally click versus the Huskers, as Carey went a perfect 4 from 4 from beyond the arc, finishing with 16 points, scoring in double figures for the first time in five games.
When Carey is taking and making threes at a high clip, things seem to go well for the Terps. In the two games he has been perfect from beyond the three-point line, he's scored in double figures and Maryland is 2-0 versus Big Ten opponents, the other game being a home win over Ohio State.
The Terps will look for Carey to hopefully build on this performance Tuesday versus the Hoosiers, but looking even further down the road, it would be huge for Maryland if Carey can start knocking down threes at a high clip on the road as they will almost certainly need him to make some big threes come March if they want to make a deep postseason run.
Young getting to the charity stripe
Jahmir Young has become the clear top scoring option for the Terps in recent weeks and while he has the ability to score at all three levels, it has been his ability to get to the rim and draw contact that has led to his drastic increase in scoring. In the win over Nebraska, Young went a perfect 9 of 9 from the free throw line, scoring half of his 18 points from the charity stripe.
Going back to the Ohio State win, Young has scored 39 of his 126 points at the free throw line. That is over 30 percent of his scoring coming from the free throw line during Maryland's most recent six-game stretch.
Young is starting to resemble past Maryland lead guards Anthony Cowan and Melo Trimble with his ability to get to the rim, draw contact and get to the free-throw line. His ability to not just get to the charity stripe, but make his free throws could be a major factor for this team as they get closer to March and into the postseason.
