DeShawn Harris-Smith dazzles in debut as Maryland men’s basketball tops Mount St. Mary’s, 68-53

It didn’t take long for DeShawn Harris-Smith to introduce himself to college basketball.

The Maryland offense struggled early on with a bevy of turnovers and missed three-pointers. Needing a spark, Harris-Smith provided it. 

With the Terps leading by two points past the midway point of the first half, the freshman guard tipped in a missed runner from Jahmir Young for his first collegiate points. A few possessions later, he cut off a driving lane for Mount St. Mary’s guard Dakota Leffew, forcing him out of bounds and igniting a mostly full student section in the Xfinity Center.

“Just energy plays,” Harris-Smith said. “It takes no talent to go out there and block shots, get a steal … just all about how bad you want it.”

Harris-Smith did a little bit of everything in his collegiate debut, posting 12 points, four rebounds, two assists, two steals, and a block. The former four-star recruit scored or assisted on 11 of the Terps’ final 13 points of the first half to stretch their lead to 14 at the break.

Maryland men’s basketball (1-0) defeated Mount St. Mary’s (0-1), 68-53, in its season opener in College Park on Tuesday. The victory marked the program’s 47th consecutive home opener win, the third-longest streak in the nation.

Although many had penciled freshman Jamie Kaiser Jr. into the Terps’ starting lineup, it was redshirt junior Indiana transfer Jordan Geronimo who heard his name called when the Maryland starters were introduced. Kevin Willard has frequently talked about experimenting with different lineups, including one with Donta Scott at the three spot.

“I’ve got a lot of work to do with [figuring out rotations],” Willard said. “I felt like I spent too much time trying to solve and not enough time trying to figure some things out.”

Willard substituted early and often, with 10 players seeing minutes in the first half. The lineups came in various shapes and sizes, including a three-guard lineup with Harris-Smith, Jahmir Young and Jahari Long, and one with a pair of 6-foot-11 big men Mady Traore and Caelum Swanton-Rodger.

Despite the softer competition, Maryland enjoyed an obvious size and athleticism advantage, which Willard and his staff made a focal point in the offseason after he felt Alabama overwhelmed his squad in their exit from the NCAA Tournament. 

It created a ton of problems for the Mountaineers’ offense, which turned the ball over 14 times and shot just 35.6 percent from the field.

Maryland had offensive issues of their own, however; the Terps had 15 turnovers and shot just 3-of-16 from beyond the arc. The bigger lineups often made spacing clunky and crowded the driving lanes for Young and Harris-Smith.

Willard said turnovers were an issue for his team in their exhibition games against Virginia and Cincinnati.

“We took some bad shots in transition … and we just can’t turn it over that many times,” he said.

Maryland started the second half the same way it started the first – by feeding Julian Reese inside. The junior big man led all players with 18 points and eight rebounds, but foul trouble, which was a recurring theme last season, became an issue in the second half.

After only committing one foul in the first half, Reese picked up his fourth with 12 minutes to go.

“The ones he got in trouble with last year were getting tangled up on a rebound … getting a cheap one,” Willard said. “I thought all four of [Reese’s fouls] were earned.”

Early in the second half, Maryland briefly experienced its worst nightmare as Harris-Smith went to the floor after getting tripped up. The Xfinity Center went silent as its prized freshman rolled around in pain.

The building exhaled as Harris-Smith walked to the Maryland bench under his own power. After getting looked at by trainers, he came back into the game just a few minutes later.

“The manager kind of made fun of me a bit, saying I was being dramatic, but it was just a cramp,” Harris-Smith said.

Maryland stretched its lead to 22 midway through the second half, but its offense got stagnant again and Mount St. Mary’s was able to cut the deficit to a dozen with just over three minutes to play. The Terps answered with a 9-to-4 run to close the game and put to rest any thought of a disastrous collapse.

The Terps will travel to Asheville, N.C. on Friday to take on Davidson in the Asheville Championship Tournament.