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Grad Transfer Patrick Emilien Breaks Down Decision, Fit in College Park

Writer's picture: Ahmed GhafirAhmed Ghafir

Maryland landed a pair of Canadian big men on Thursday with grad transfer Patrick Emilien becoming the second commitment. The latest additions have rounded out Maryland’s frontcourt for the 2022-23 season, while head coach Kevin Willard and the staff have now filled all 13 available scholarships, but for Emilien, getting the chance to play at the highest level was too much to turn down.


“Really happy about the opportunity and I felt like Maryland was a really good opportunity to test myself at the highest level of college basketball,” he told Inside the Black & Gold. “I was able to build a good relationship with coach [Tony] Skinn over the past couple weeks and was able to finally hop on a Zoom call and hear from coach [Kevin] Willard, his history of coaching and how successful he’s been at Seton Hall. It was a very easy call to commit and know that was the right place for me.”


UMass and St. Bonaventure were two schools showing strong interest while a handful of high major schools like Clemson, Mississippi State, BYU, UConn were in pursuit after entering the transfer portal back on May 19, but Maryland made a quick move. Emilien added that Zoom with the staff came on Monday before telling the staff his intention to transfer to College Park on Tuesday morning, ending the Terps’ longtime pursuit of a portal big man. “I think fit was a big part of it and fit at the right level. This will be my fifth season of playing college basketball and I’ve played against multiple high major teams so I wanted to find a place that could be at that level that had an opportunity for me to showcase my skills.”


Despite not visiting College Park prior to a decision, his sister’s soccer career at Howard gave him ample familiarity with the area. “She was goalkeeper of the year in her conference and they won two championships when she was there, so I spent a bunch of time down there at Howard with her and obviously, was able to feel the Maryland effect even down there. It’s such a prolific school, the basketball program is so historic that I was interested in that program.”

Emilien also felt he connected well with the staff as Skinn led the recent pursuit. “They were really open with me. There wasn’t any beating the bush, it was this is what we need, this is what you can do. The players they’ve had in the past and the ability to perform at this level. It was really straightforward, they seemed very interested and knew a lot about my previous game, so I appreciated that effort. Then their history of coaching. I’ve been watching Seton Hall games for a while. I really like the way that coach Willard coaches his game and I wanted to be a part of that.”


Emilien began his career at Western Michigan where he averaged 3.7 points and three rebounds over his three-year career before transferring to St. Francis (Brooklyn) for the 2021-22 season, finishing with 12.5 points and 6.2 rebounds after starting in all 27 games. He’ll head to College Park where he’ll play “a little bit of the three, four” in the Terps’ rotation, but Willard’s development of similar big men his size helped Emilien believe he fits the Terps' new style of play. “I’ve played the four the most in my college career so that’s where I feel I’m the most effective, but coach Willard showed me one of his former players at Seton Hall that has a similar build to me, similar game and showed how he could develop that kid. I found that really enticing just with being compared myself to a player that was formerly coached by [Willard].”


With him playing a bigger role in the frontcourt, adding to his frame is the focus between now and the season opener. “The NEC is a smaller conference so I was able to stay leaner so I could act a little bit quicker but Big Ten is obviously a big conference so putting some weight on, getting back to three-point shooting like I did at Western Michigan but wasn’t really part of my role at St. Francis and being able to spread the floor with the players they’ve got, continuing to work in that isolation spot and find shots for myself.”


Emilien will enroll at Maryland on June 29 as he shares what he’s looking forward to in his fifth and final season of college basketball. “I’m excited to get to campus and that school pride feeling, then the difference in high major basketball compared to where I was. The resources that they have for the players, I’m very excited to take advantage of that.”


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