After an up-and-down freshman season, Maryland men's basketball’s Jalen Smith will forgo testing the draft process and return for his sophomore season.
Multiple outlets reported the decision Monday morning, and Maryland made an official announcement minutes later.
STIX STAYS! https://t.co/9pRDjrjOls pic.twitter.com/IrAdVVAKd9
— Maryland Basketball (@TerrapinHoops) April 8, 2019
The skinny big, aptly nicknamed “Stix,” has been off most mock drafts, or projected in the second round, for most of the season. Two impressive showings in the NCAA Tournament helped fuel the belief he'd at least test the process without an agent, but his mind is made up.
The 6’10 McDonald's All-American came in to College Park listed at 195 pounds, and added 20 more in muscle by the time the season rolled around. A high school teammate of sophomore guard Darryl Morsell, Smith was the crown jewel of head coach Mark Turgeon’s top-10 2018 recruiting class, the best in the Big Ten.
Smith opened the season with a 19-point, 13-rebound double-double and would score in double digits each of the first six games, then just once in the next four. Sharing the frontcourt with Bruno Fernando was easier said than done at the beginning of the season, with Smith splitting time between the power forward and center slots, but by the end of the season Turgeon had mostly figured out how to play them both together and separately.
He’d go on to be the third-leading scorer and second-leading rebounder and shot-blocker for the Terps, averaging 11.9 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game for the season. Smith is just starting to truly tap into his potential, though, as evidenced by two big-time showings in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. He led Maryland in scoring in both games, dropping 19 points and grabbing 12 boards against Belmont and 15 points and eight rebounds in the heartbreaking loss to LSU. Maryland wouldn’t have had a chance to lose at the buzzer if not for Smith’s game-tying corner three on the possession before.
His decision is the first, and most crucial of the offseason for Maryland, with Fernando still expected to head to the pros. There’s been no decision made out of Fernando’s camp, but now he knows his frontcourt-mate will be back in 2019-20.