Anthony Cowan notched his first career double-double in Maryland’s win over Butler

When Anthony Cowan finished Maryland men’s basketball’s blowout of Maryland-Eastern Shore with 16 points and nine rebounds, it was the closest he’d come to a double-double since his college debut, when he finished with 12 points and nine rebounds against American last season.

Now, Cowan has added his first career double-double to his resume, after the Terps beat Butler by 14 to move to 3-0. Cowan finished the night with career highs of 25 points and 10 rebounds, all defensive. He also added five assists compared to just one turnover in his 37 minutes of action.

“Man, he was good,” Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon said after the game. “He guarded like crazy and didn’t even look tired to me. I think he is really getting a feel of how to run the team.”

Cowan finished the first half with nine points, two rebounds and four assists, shooting 3-of-4 from the field while going 2-of-3 from three and splitting his two free throw attempt. Both of his first-half threes came when Maryland was getting late in the shot clock.

“It goes down to the last second and then I decided to shoot it, so hopefully they’re not all like that,” Cowan said. “Coach always wants me to drive the ball a lot of the time, but when I come down and there’s just two seconds left, I’ve gotta shoot it, so it kinda takes more pressure off.”

Fellow sophomores Kevin Huerter and Justin Jackson got in foul trouble in the second half, with Huerter eventually fouling out. Naturally, the onus fell on Cowan to then lead the team and the offense; he didn’t disappoint. In the second half, Cowan posted a team-high 16 points, eight rebounds and two steals. He also added an assist off a fast break that ended in an alley-oop to freshman Darryl Morsell.

Cowan had plenty of big plays in the second half, but none bigger than a backbreaking NBA-range three with the clock running down to stretch the lead to 64-56. That was followed by a steal and a slam by Morsell to essentially shut the Bulldogs out of this one.

“I felt good, I wasn’t really tired,” Cowan said of the shot. “I saw the time going down slowly. Butler did a really good job of compacting the lane and I thought that was far enough. So I thought, ‘why not shoot?’”

In other news

It’s Field Trip Day at the Xfinity Center, so women’s basketball faces Niagara with an 11 a.m. ET tip off today, as they try to grab a home win before heading to face UConn.

Men’s soccer will try to put the end of the regular season behind it, as the Terps kick off the NCAA tournament against Albany at Ludwig Field tonight at 7 p.m. ET.

Justin Jackson is No. 13 in SB Nation’s latest mock draft, but he’ll have to be more aggressive on offense than his 0-for-4 shooting night against Butler to prove he’s a lottery pick.

There haven’t been a whole lot of bright spots in football’s last two losses, but Taivon Jacobs emerging as a legitimate threat is definitely one of them, from The Diamondback.

In local news, Gonzaga and St. John’s are headed to the Washington Catholic Athletic Association’s gridiron championship, after Gonzaga upset Good Counsel and St. John’s beat DeMatha in a rematch of last year’s title game, from The Left Bench.