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Shaquille Cleare
Center, 6'9", 265 lbs, #44
Shaq Cleare was a highly touted recruit coming out of high school, but he never seemed to pan out in a Terrapin uniform. Cleare has declared his intention to transfer, ending a two year stint of underachievement at College Park. The Bahamian had trouble becoming a low post presence for the Terps and midway through his sophomore season, the year he was supposed to break out, he was replaced in the starting lineup.
Stats
Cleare didn't score much last season, averaging 3.0 points per game on 13.8 minutes per game, which is even less production than he saw in his freshman year (when he scored 3.7 points per game on 12.0 minutes). His best =coring game came on December 14 against Florida Atlantic when he went 5-7 and put up 10 points. Cleare's rebounding dropped off in the middle of the year, but in the final four games of the season he picked it back up and ended with an average of 2.5 rebounds per game.
Fouling was a problem for him at times. Although he never fouled out of a game, he finished seven games with four personal fouls and had to have his minutes cut as a result. For the season, Cleare shot 56.5 percent from the field, making 39 of his 69 shots. He struggled at the free throw line, only converting 17 of his 29 opportunities from the charity strike to give him a 59.5 free throw percentage.
High Point
His biggest impact performance came in arguably Maryland's biggest game of the year; the final ACC game against rival and highly ranked Virginia. While Cleare didn't stuff the stat sheets that game, he was able to provide valuable quality minutes while Charles Mitchell dealt with foul trouble the whole game. He played a season-high 26 minutes against the Cavaliers, scored five points, snagged five rebounds, managed to go 3-4 from the free throw line and was partially responsible for Akil Mitchell only putting up four points and four boards.
Low Point
From January 29 to March 2, Cleare only scored seven points, which included a five-game streak of goose eggs in the scoring column. He saw his minutes drastically reduced and only got eight minutes of combined playing time against Duke, Wake Forest and Syracuse.
The Future
Cleare has announced he will be transferring. There have been rumors that he has been in talks with Texas and that both parties are interested, but still not much is known of where he will end up.