Maryland Basketball: Jared Nickens has a career game
By Chris Bengel
Even back to his high school days, Jared Nickens was a flashy player.
He’s taken a back seat at times at Maryland, but posted a career game on Wednesday.
During the Terrapins’ 88-63 win over the Scarlet Knights, Nickens scored nine points and nailed a pair of shots from beyond the arc. While it was very encouraging to see from Nickens, it was his career-high 10-rebound performance raised eyebrows.
Nickens’ previous career-high on the boards was seven, which came against Mount St. Mary’s earlier this season. The Monmouth Junction (NJ) native was averaging just 2.1 rebounds-per-game coming into Wednesday’s contest.
While this wasn’t a typical game from Nickens, it’s really not all that surprising.
The Westtown School (Pa.) product has great size for a wing player at 6’7. While he played his high school basketball in the Philadelphia suburbs, Nickens often guarded players in the low post due to his length.
For example, Nickens even found himself matched up with UNLV forward Goodluck Okonoboh when their high school faced off during the 2014 season. The Maryland forward certainly held his own against the bigger Okonoboh, who had a very decorated high school career.
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Nickens had five of his rebounds in the first half, including four on the defensive end. The lack of size for Rutgers certainly allowed Nickens to establish himself in the paint for rebound opportunities. After all, the Scarlet Knights only had two guys over 6’8 that saw action.
Another reason for his improved performance on the glass is Nickens’ ability to guard.
For example, with 9:25 left in the first half, Rutgers guard Bishop Daniels attempted to drive baseline, but Nickens never really let Daniels get completely by him. Nickens used his length to alter Daniels’ shot, which allowed the Maryland forward to grab an easy defensive rebound.
While the rebounding stuck out for Nickens, he was also able to break out of his shooting slump.
The sophomore forward had only connected on two of his last 17 shots entering Wednesday evening. However, Nickens was able to make three of his eight field goal attempts against Rutgers, including a pair of shots from beyond the three-point line.
The slump was certainly not characteristic of Nickens, who was labeled as a three-point marksmen during his high school days. During his time at Westtown, Nickens was able to create his own shot and be incredibly effective from beyond the arc.
During the 2015-16 season, Nickens is shooting 37.7 percent from three, which is third on the team behind guards Melo Trimble and Rasheed Sulaimon.
With Dion Wiley being lost for the season, that much more pressure has been placed on Nickens. Nickens has been forced to play more two-guard and certainly has the ability to do so given his range.
Even if this 10-rebound performance is an anomaly, Nickens brings much more than three-point shooting to the table for the Terps.