Maryland Basketball: Takeaways from Terps thrilling comeback win over Minnesota

1. Mighty Morsell

This one is self-explanatory, right?

Junior Darryl Morsell played one heck of a game for Maryland basketball, finishing with a stat line of 13 points, 9 rebounds, an assist, a steal and a block. He tied for the team-lead in free throw attempts (6) and came through for Maryland with the biggest play of the game.

Morsell’s deep 3-pointer gave the Terps a 1-point lead with less than 2 seconds remaining. His awareness in this situation is refreshing for the NCAA level, even for an upperclassman. Morsell is the last person in the frame but he immediately squares up knowing that there is likely going to be five or fewer seconds when he gets the ball and fires up as soon as he gets the rock.

While the clutch 3-pointer will obviously and rightfully get the headlines, Morsell did the little things throughout the game to help Maryland basketball pull out the victory. His work on the glass (9 rebounds) helped the Terps finish with a +9 rebound advantage and he took on the very difficult defensive assignment of guarding Minnesota playmaker Marcus Carr. He did a solid job on Carr, who racked up points and assists as per usual (19 and 7 respectively) but also had 5 turnovers.

Though you can obviously point to Maryland’s usual stars, some bench contributions, and some composure down the stretch from Mark Turgeon, there is no comeback win for Maryland basketball on Wednesday night without the contributions of Darryl Morsell.