COLLEGE PARK — By the end of his junior year of high school, Jared Nickens knew he had a decision to make.
Nickens could finish it out at St. Patrick's in Elizabeth, N.J., and take one of a few mid-major Division I offers he had received. Or he could go to Westtown, a prep school outside of Philadelphia, get reclassified as a junior and have two years to secure a scholarship to a more prestigious program.
Then a scrawny 6-foot-6, 165-pound shooting guard, Nickens knew he needed time for his game and his body to grow if he wanted to play major college basketball.
"I didn't want to leave," the Maryland freshman recalled last week. "I had a great relationship with everyone there [at St. Patrick's]. It was hard for me, honestly, I had a bigger picture in mind. Schools like Maryland and other high D-Is would offer me if I improved my game. It definitely worked out, as you can see."
Said his father, Bobby: "He fought it, but he knew it was the best thing for him both physically and mentally. He knew what he needed to do to get where he wanted to go."
That decision has proved prescient by Nickens and fortuitous for the Terps and their now 6-7, 205-pound forward.
As Nickens returns to his New Jersey roots Tuesday when No. 10 Maryland (24-5 overall, 12-4 in the Big Ten) plays at Rutgers (10-19, 2-14), his performance so far has exceeded most expectations. Showing the coachability that is apparent when he plays, Nickens said he had a "vision" of what Turgeon wanted.
"Coach Turgeon called me to tell me that he was going to need me to step up this year because of everybody that left and the situation with the program," Nickens said. "Part of the reason I came is because I trusted Coach Turgeon and believed in what he said. It turns out that what's happened during the season so far."
Turgeon, who had considered redshirting Nickens before Nick Faust (City) and Seth Allen left after last season, said Monday that none of his players have progressed in the past year as much as Nickens in terms of his expected role.
"From when he committed to us to his role on the team, you can say he's given us a lot more than I thought he would," Turgeon said. "I knew he could shoot it. To step in and make some of the shots he has made for us in pressure situations this year has been really remarkable."
Nickens leads Maryland with 49 3-pointers made and is shooting them at a respectable rate (40.2) for a freshman. While his overall scoring is certainly not as impressive as fellow freshman Melo Trimble -- Nickens has averaged 6.2 points in a little less than 20 minutes per game -- the timing of his shots has been critical.
Several times this season, most recently on the road at Penn State and last week against then-No. 5 Wisconsin and Michigan, Nickens has lifted a struggling offense by nailing a couple of 3-pointers in a short span. It started when he scored 15 points off the bench in Maryland's upset of then-No. 13 Iowa State on Nov. 25.
The win lifted the Terps to their first national ranking in five seasons and gave Nickens an early boost of confidence.
"As a basketball player, you always want to have that dream, but definitely the Iowa State game was a big eye-opener for me," he said. "I didn't expect to play as well as I did, but guys like Dez [Wells] and the other seniors have confidence in me. That just took a lot of pressure off me and I was able to do what I did."
Good looks at the basket
Nickens has scored in double figures six times this season, including 12 points against Rutgers in a 63-55 home win Jan. 14. He credits a lot of his success to playing with Trimble, already one of the top point guards in the country, and Wells.
"With the offense here, that works to my strength, I don't have to force anything," said Nickens, who is shooting just less than 40 percent overall. "I get good looks all the time because of guys like Melo and Dez driving the lanes and Jake [Layman] and Evan [Smotrycz] causing havoc."
From a young age, Nickens said he always has been able to shoot. He said earlier this season that at basketball camps growing up, he often eschewed most of the drills to get in the line to shoot. Bobby Nickens recalled one particular incident when a coach asked his 6-year-old son to work on a drill dribbling with his left hand.
"He said, 'I don't do that, I'm a shooter,' " the elder Nickens recalled with a laugh. "I had to pull him aside and tell him, 'Jared, you don't ever tell a coach what you're not going to do.' "
The younger Nickens obviously listened.
Westtown coach Seth Berger said Nickens is one of the most coachable players he ever had. Berger recalled how, when Nickens showed up as a junior, he barely shot 20 percent on his 3-pointers the first 10 games and couldn't differentiate between a good shot and a bad one.
"He started taking 500 shots a day, he shot 42 percent the rest of that year and 48 percent as a senior," Berger said. "If he continues shooting the way he is, he'll be shooting between 45 and 50 percent on 3s and be one of the most efficient shooters in the country his junior and senior year."
Turgeon said Nickens has made even bigger strides at the defensive end this season.
"Defensively he's come a long ways, rebounding has come a long ways, and he's continued to work hard," Turgeon said.
Arriving quicker than expected
In some ways, the success Nickens has found mirrors that of his team this season. Just as many figured that the Terps might be a season or two away from making it back to the NCAA tournament, most thought Nickens was going to be a project.
"I knew we were going to win a lot of games. I didn't know we were going to be this good, as good as we are," Nickens said. "We still have room to improve between now and March and the [NCAA] tournament."
One of Nickens' biggest supporters this season has been former Terps star Juan Dixon, now in his second year as a special assistant to Turgeon.
Dixon has said since watching Nickens improve dramatically during summer workouts that he reminds him of a skinny freshman who became Maryland's all-time leading scorer. Playing behind Steve Francis as a freshman, Dixon averaged 7.4 points in a little less than 15 minutes per game while shooting 37.1 percent on 3-pointers.
"Me and Juan talk often, we always talk basketball," Nickens said. "I actually watch a lot of film of him. I watch the stame stuff over and over. Everybody's path is different, but at the same time I look up to him and listen to what he has to tell me. "
Like Dixon, Nickens always has played with a chip on his shoulder.
"A lot of people doubt me and don't think I can do what I do," Nickens said.
Turgeon thinks that Nickens is much like the rest of this overachieving team.
"I always said, there's a lot of basketball left to be played and guys can get a lot better and Jared's kind of taken that to heart," Turgeon said. "He knows whether it's three or four or five weeks left, he's got a chance to get better and help our team."
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