Maryland is off to one of its strongest starts in a decade and will look to ride that momentum to another win on Monday night when it hosts Florida A&M at College Park, Md.
The Terrapins (2-0) have opened the season with victories of 30 or more points against Manhattan and Mount St. Mary’s. It’s the first time Maryland has defeated its first two opponents of a campaign by at least 30 points since the 2014-15 season.
Meanwhile, the Rattlers (0-2) have struggled mightily in coach Patrick Crarey II’s first season at the helm, allowing over 100 points in losses to TCU and SMU.
Rodney Rice, a transfer from Virginia Tech, has been a big part of Maryland’s early success. He scored a career-high 28 points on 10-of-14 shooting from the field in the Terrapins’ 86-52 win over Mount St. Mary’s on Friday.
Rice scored 26 of those points in the first half to help break the game open early, and he finished with five rebounds, two assists and two steals. Ja’Kobi Gillespie, a transfer from Belmont, complemented Rice’s efforts with 13 points.
“When Ja’Kobi and Rodney are out here together, it’s two guys that can really shoot it and score,” Maryland coach Kevin Willard said Friday. “This is the way Rod’s been playing for the last two to three weeks in practice. It’s the way we played the other night, to be honest with you, when he came in the second half and kind of did the same thing. He’s got a great knack to score.”
Florida A&M has had a major issue with turnovers during its first two games. The Rattlers allowed SMU to convert 15 giveaways into 27 points during a 102-73 loss on Thursday.
One of the bright spots for the Rattlers so far has been Sterling Young, who led the team in scoring against SMU with 15 points. He went 3-for-8 from 3-point range in that setback.
Young is averaging a team-high 15.5 points over the first two games of the season.
“Sterling is a really good offensive player who was an all-conference player at the best juco conference in the county,” Crarey said in May, when it was officially announced that Young had transferred from Charlotte. “He spent this last year playing in the (American Athletic Conference). His experience on that level will be a huge asset to our program.”
