Maryland Basketball: Takeaways from Terps thrilling comeback win over Minnesota

3. Maryland’s X-factor is crystal clear

Most teams have a group of players they can point to and say, “any of these guys can be the X-factor for our team.” But in the case of the 2019-20 Maryland Terrapins, there is one player whose effectiveness could directly lead to a long run: 6-foot-6 sophomore guard Aaron Wiggins.

Wiggins is a double-digit scorer (10.3 points per game), up from 8.3 points per game in his freshman season. The improvements in his game are obvious when you watch the tape and the numbers back it up. Wiggins has improved his finishing at the rim (69.2% this year) and while he is not shooting well from 3-point range, he is more aggressive in terms of his overall attempts (5.5 per game). On Wednesday, Wiggins chipped in an oh-so-crucial 16 points, the only player on the Maryland bench to score more than 2 points.

Maryland was getting a horrific effort from their 3-point shooters and even with Wiggins’ contributions, they ended up shooting 21.14% from 3-point range. He personally went 2-for-4 from 3-point range and was the only player on the Terps roster to make more than one triple on the evening. He put in a monster defensive effort as well, collecting 3 steals and 2 blocks. Wiggins helped make sure that the Gophers got little in the way of efficient contributions from anyone not named Carr or Oturu.

Wiggins by no means played a perfect game on Wednesday–he finished with more turnovers (3) than assists (2)–but his offense was very needed on a night where Anthony Cowan was an awful 2-for-15 from the field. On top of the scoring contributions throughout the evening, Wiggins made the biggest play of the game, snagging an assist when he hit Darryl Morsell with a kick-out pass for the game-winning 3-point shot. If Wiggins is bringing his “A” game every night, expect the Terps to make a deep NCAA Tournament run.