Maryland Basketball: Key players to watch on Terps for 2020-21 season

The Floor General: Eric Ayala

With the departure of Anthony Cowan, the Terps are looking for junior Eric Ayala to take over the reins in running the Maryland pick and roll offense. The 6-5 195lb Ayala from Wilmington, DE will be charged with leading the offense. Ayala sat down with Big 10 analysis Andy Katz and discussed following in the footsteps of Anthony Cowan and how he learned from Cowan.

Ayala has some experience in playing the point, so this is a role that Ayala should be comfortable with, as Ayala played a key role in leading Maryland to the 2020 Big Ten Championship. He ranked second on the team with 77 assists, averaged 8.5 points and 2.9 rebounds in the 2019-2020 campaign. He has a more traditional point guard style of play, but also has the ability to drive the lane and to create his own shot.

This, in his junior season in College Park, Ayala is now asked to play a different role than in his previous two years. Ayala had a decline in his 2-point shooting percentage, as well as in his 3-point shooting percentage last year compared to his field goal percentage and 3-point shooting percentage his freshman year in College Park.

But, he certainly made up for some of that on the defensive end of the floor as he was very solid on that end of the floor. If Ayala can up his 3-point shooting percentage, take care of the ball, and stay aggressive on the defensive end, he most certainly has a career year in leading the Terp’s this year.