DeShawn Harris-Smith’s development offers optimism for the future of Maryland men’s basketball

The transition to high-level college basketball wasn’t exactly smooth for DeShawn Harris-Smith, but Maryland men’s basketball’s freshman guard is finding his footing as the season winds down.

Harris-Smith scored 14 points in Wednesday’s loss to Northwestern. With the Terps trailing by 11 with over four minutes remaining, it was consecutive buckets from Harris-Smith that ignited a 8-0 run to give Maryland a chance in the final possessions of the game.

The Terps fell short down the stretch, a common theme this season, but the former four-star recruit’s improving play offers a silver lining.

“He’s playing with so much more confidence,” coach Kevin Willard said.

Harris-Smith’s strong performance on Wednesday came two weeks after he notched a career-high 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting in a win over Iowa. He’s averaging 10.8 points and shooting 46 percent from the field over his last five games — a stark increase after he averaged just five points through the first 13 Big Ten games.

“I’ve been saying all year the more games I get under my belt, the more comfortable I’m gonna get, the more the game’s gonna slow down for me,” Harris-Smith said. “I feel like it’s been doing that all year and I feel like it’s gonna carry on to next year.”

The 3-point shot still hasn’t come around — Harris-Smith is shooting just 16.9 percent from beyond the arc. But at 6-foot-5 and 215 pounds, he has an NBA-ready body and possesses a knack for getting inside where he is able to finish through contact over bigger defenders.

“I feel like I’m a bigger guard, even at this level,” Harris-Smith said. “I just try to use my physicality to get to the rim, finish through contact, because I know I’m not shooting the ball very well. So I’ve got to get inside the paint but I feel like I finish well.”

That ability has always been there, but he’s been more assertive in getting to his spots recently. Harris-Smith has been making his presence felt on the offensive end early in games. He knocked down three of Maryland’s first four baskets on Wednesday.

“In the beginning of games, I’ve been trying to get myself situated early,” Harris-Smith said. “Like not waiting until the 10-minute mark to get my first basket, because then it’s just hard to adjust to the game. So at the beginning of the game I just have the mentality, like, ‘Let me get an easy one, let me see the ball go through the hoop’.”

Harris-Smith’s offensive game has taken time to develop, but that size and physicality at the guard position made Harris-Smith an impact defender from the moment he stepped onto campus. As the primary matchup on Boo Buie on Wednesday, Harris-Smith held the All-Big Ten guard to just 12 points on 4-of-13 shooting. 

When Payton Sandfort lit up the Terps for 15 first-half points Feb. 14, Willard needed an answer. It was Harris-Smith. 

The freshman took on the Sandfort matchup and held him to just four second-half points while pouring in 10 of his own in a comeback victory, which Willard said was the difference in the game.

“I feel like defense is all energy. It takes no skill to run around guarding the best player,” Harris-Smith said. “… That’s where I just take a lot of pride. I try to hang my hat on defense.”

Despite the presence of veterans like Jahmir Young, Julian Reese and Donta Scott, Maryland’s ceiling largely depended on how much production it could get from its freshmen right away. 

Harris-Smith’s 29.4 minutes per game are the most of any Terp freshman since Melo Trimble in 2014-15. It more than likely won’t lead to an NCAA Tournament berth, but Harris-Smith’s heavy workload as a first-year player could pay dividends for Maryland in the future. 

“I think it’s taken all the freshmen a little bit longer [to progress] this year just because of the COVID years and guys getting so old,” Willard said. “But it’s just good to see him make that progression and be a little more aggressive driving to the basket. I think he’s made really, really good progress.”

With Young and Scott set to depart over the offseason and the uncertainty the transfer portal brings, Maryland’s roster should look a lot different next season. Whatever the 2024-25 version of the Terps looks like, Harris-Smith figures to be at the forefront of it.