For Maryland basketball, point guard has become a two-man job
Maryland lost a pair of key players after last season — point guard Anthony Cowan Jr. and forward Jalen Smith, who both earned all-conference honors — and so this team has had to adapt, plugging those holes with imperfect solutions. Junior guard Eric Ayala entered the season as the heir apparent to Cowan because he already had experience at that spot from when Coach Mark Turgeon wanted Cowan to play off the ball. But lately, Turgeon has moved Ayala off the ball at times, just as he did with Cowan, so Hart has stepped in and will continue to split time at the point guard position.
Ayala leads Maryland in scoring at 14.4 points per game, but he is third on the team with 30 assists, behind junior guard Aaron Wiggins (48) and senior guard Darryl Morsell (40). Not long after Hart started sharing the point guard duties with Ayala, Turgeon said he thought it was a “necessary change, just to get Eric off the ball a little bit, not have to worry about bringing it up and getting us into our offense.”
A few weeks later, Turgeon said: “Everybody’s getting a little bit more comfortable. … We feel like it gives us the best chance.”
For now, the Terps (9-7, 3-6) will play both Ayala and Hart at point guard. When Hart is in the game, Ayala will play mostly off the ball. When Hart’s on the bench, Ayala will revert to that role. (Even Morsell occasionally brings the ball up the court for Maryland.) With Ayala not handling the ball as much, he can find better shots for himself. Turgeon said he thinks eventually the switch will help Ayala offensively.
“Right now, we’re still a work in progress,” Turgeon said last week, adding that in a loss at Michigan, Ayala scored better when playing at point guard.
In the Terps’ win at then-No. 17 Minnesota on Saturday, Ayala scored 21 points — just two shy of his career high and the most he has ever scored against a Big Ten opponent. He scored in a mix of circumstances. Five of his baskets came with Hart on the bench, and when Ayala scored the other three field goals, both he and Hart were in the game.
Hart started against the Golden Gophers, but he picked up two early fouls and played fewer than 20 minutes for the first time since late November.
Even though Hart didn’t seem like an obvious solution at that position, he has experience playing there. In AAU and high school, Hart said he served as the lead guard at times. Matt Griffin, who coached Hart at Roman Catholic High in Philadelphia, said earlier this season that Hart developed into a reliable facilitator. During Hart’s senior season “we put the ball in his hands a lot,” Griffin said, “because we knew he was going to make really good decisions with the ball.”
The position isn’t unfamiliar for Hart, but the level of play increased with the jump to college. Yet Hart has maintained his status as a solid passer and good decision-maker. Among Terps who average at least 10 minutes, Hart has the best assist-to-turnover ratio (1.86). He has been even better during conference play, with 12 assists and only six turnovers.
“I think I’ve handled the position pretty well,” Hart said. “I’ve felt comfortable doing it, so it felt great.”
Hart had already begun assuming some lead guard responsibilities, but his new role was magnified when Ayala missed two games this month with a groin injury. In the absence of Ayala, the Terps managed to defeat then-No. 12 Illinois on the road and then cruise to a lopsided win over Division II Wingate. In those two games combined, Hart tallied 20 points, eight assists and no turnovers.
Hart’s length makes him a proficient defender, and he is scoring 8.8 points per game. Turgeon said he still wants Hart to get shots and be a bit more aggressive taking them. He is shooting 37.7 percent from three-point range (third among rotation players), and Hart has had impressive offensive outings this season after averaging just 1.6 points as a freshman. He scored 32 points against Saint Peter’s, one of the best outputs in school history. Against the Illini, Hart hit the go-ahead three-pointer with 1:20 remaining.
Hart has now started six consecutive games. When Ayala returned to the starting lineup at Minnesota, Hart remained in his spot, with Turgeon opting in favor of a four-guard look. That small lineup with Hart playing point guard propelled the Terps to an early lead and could continue to be a solution moving forward.
“He didn’t look rattled,” Ayala said, thinking back to when he watched those two games from the bench. “He stayed composed. For his size, I think that’s a unique spot for him, being as tall as he is. His eye for the game is special. He can see the game from different levels. I trust him a lot with the ball in his hands.”
