One Maryland guard made the cut in the Big Ten’s postseason awards.
Jahmir Young was named second-team All-Big Ten team on Tuesday, marking the lone Terp honored in the postseason awards.
Young led the team in scoring (16.5) and steals (37) this season while shooing 43.3% from the floor and 82.8% from the free throw line. The DeMatha grad ranks twelth among active NCAA players with 16.5 points per game and is one of nine active players with 1,875+ points, 575+ rebounds and 350+ assists. Young also became the first Terp since Sean Mosley in 2011-12 to block four shots in the team’s first two games.
After signing with the program last summer from Charlotte, Young has been everything and then some for Maryland through his one season in College Park. “He’s a tremendous young man and hard worker,” Willard said back in December. “But what he has been more than anything is a great foundation for this program.”
Young sparked first team consideration after finishing in double figures in all but one of the final 17 games in the season, with the lone game being a nine-point performance against the Buckeyes in March. Over the same stretch, Young posted a double-double in the road win over the Buckeyes back in January to became the first Maryland guard since Greivis Vasquez in 2009 to score 30 points while adding ten or more rebounds. On a roster that was assembled and mixed together in a short amount of time, it’s been none of than Young who has shined for Maryland all season.
“I think Jahmir’s playing as good as any guard in this conference, if not in the country. He has given us not only great points and assists on the court, but he’s been a great presence in timeouts, in practice. He’s really developed into a really good leader. He’s got a great toughness about him, he loves to compete and I think as he’s kind of gotten used to this league and the physicality and the size of this league, as he’s gotten more comfortable, so has our offense,” Willard said on BTN last month.
Donate to Maryland basketball’s NIL here and enter ‘IBG’ in the comment
Young became the first commitment for Maryland out of DeMatha since Travis Garrison back in 2002, giving the Terps the local juice that fans long craved to open the Kevin Willard era. He also became the 50th player in program history to score 500 points in a season and posted nine 20-point games this season.
Hakim Hart, Julian Reese and Donta Scott were all named All-Big Ten honorable mention. Hart finished second on the team in scoring (11.8) while Reese posted seven double-doubles this season in the midst of his sophomore jump.
Patrick Emilien was honored after being named the Sportsmanship Award nominee. While Young undoubtedly wins the impact award, Emilien may have proven himself to be the most underrated addition this offseason as he’s helped stabilize the rotation in the frontcourt. The former Western Michigan and St. Francis (NY) big man hasn’t lit up the stat sheet, but his play goes beyond the box score and Kevin Willard noticed that early in the season.
“If you look at the plus-minus, [Emilien] is plus-19 so I think the biggest thing is defensively, he just kind of he came in and, and gave Derrick Walker a hard time and then once Derrick had started having a hard time going, that kind of gave their offense a hard time going,” Willard said following the win over Nebraska earlier this season. “I’ve said it. The fact that I feel very comfortable in being able to move him from power forward to center, center to power forward and he’s able to do that, from a play call standpoint, from a defensive standpoint, from his own standpoint, that’s a pretty valuable guy.”
Maryland will kick off Big Ten play on Thursday night against the winner of Minnesota-Nebraska.
Related Links
VIP: long list of visitors on campus, portal season, intel on local QBs, international trip (+)
Maryland basketball falls in latest AP poll, bracketology
Veteran lineman hits the transfer portal
Priority lineman talks first visit to Maryland, spring plans (+)
