Basketball

Now Healthy, Patrick Emilien Filling Crucial Minutes for Maryland Basketball

The swift offseason transfers from Jahmir Young secured the backcourt for year one under head coach Kevin Willard, but the biggest question was how the depth in the frontcourt would fare as Maryland looks to get back into the NCAA Tournament.

Maryland is clinging to the right side of the bubble after Saturday afternoon’s 82-63 win over Nebraska and a big reason for that is Patrick Emilien, who has battled through ankle injuries over the last five weeks to play a pivotal role in Saturday’s win. “Pat’s healthy. I’ve kind of beat that dead horse, but he got hurt [at] Tennessee, he really couldn’t play [against] UCLA, he sprained his ankle and he is out for those four games,” Willard said following the win over Nebraska. “He just gives us a different dynamic in the fact that we can switch, pick and roll. He can slide over to the power forward. He can slide over to the center. He was a big key of why we got off to such a really good start.”

Maryland leaned on Emilien through the last 13 minutes of the first half, giving Donta Scott an early breather before Julian Reese drew his second personal foul just 12 minutes into the game. That kept the Canadian big man on the floor as he impacted the games on both ends, whether it was with his midrange en route to 3-of-4 shooting or his four rebounds and block in the first half. Nebraska fed off forward Derrick Walker’s efficiency early as he went into the locker room with a game-high 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting, but Emilien’s presence limited the big man to just four points over the final 20 minutes. “He’s just a big body, very skilled, big. He’s not very traditional in the sense that he could dribble the ball and he could score from any point of the on the field,” Emilien said of his defensive efforts on Patrick. “So, it was just sticking with him, being strong knowing that there’s gonna be help coming from behind if he turns his back.”

Willard took note of Emilien’s play to shore the Terps’ frontcourt rotation while Caelum Swanton-Rodger helped close out the game. “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. 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.”

Emilien added he’s “pretty much feeling 100% now” as he eases back from his ankle injury. “It feels very refreshing to be injury free and be able to contribute to the game,” Emilien added following the win. His presence, especially on the defensive end, will loom large in Maryland’s next matchup as they prepare to host Trayce Jackson-Davis and Indiana on Tuesday night. The Hoosiers are coming off their fifth straight win after taking down Ohio State, 86-70, on Saturday to move to 15-6. Maryland will get a chance to move to 12-1 at home this season.

“I know coach says a lot that we had the toughest schedule, he actually showed us the other day. So I think we all realized that we did and the last two games we’re at home so we realized that we got a strong homecourt advantage to capitalize off of that [and] really just taking this momentum and taking it on the road when that time comes. I think that’s a big step that we gotta take and be road warriors and figure out how to win on the road in tough environments.”

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