COLLEGE PARK — The moment came early in Maryland's practice on Christmas night. During a drill to work on the team's transition game, senior guard Dez Wells took a pass near midcourt and raced toward the basket.
"He beat about four guys by himself down the court for a dunk," junior forward Jake Layman recalled after Friday's practice. "That just reminded me how good he is in transition."
It was the first time Wells had been in a competitive situation since fracturing his right wrist early in Maryland's upset of then-No. 13 Iowa State Nov. 25 in the championship game of the CBE Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City, Mo.
Wells will play in his first game since then on Saturday, when the No. 15 Terps face Oakland (4-9) at Xfinity Center. Maryland (11-1) won six of seven without Wells, the team's leading scorer the past two seasons.
"It feels good to be out here with my teammates again," Wells said Friday. "I'm pretty excited to get out here and try to contribute to my team tomorrow. I'm just excited for that."
Wells, who was averaging 16.2 points when he was injured, said the time he spent watching the Terps gave him a chance to "see the game from a different viewpoint, so I feel like that prepared me to return and assist my teammates and do what I need to do for us to continue the streak we have going."
Maryland coach Mark Turgeon said Wells participated in the last two practices as well as a shooting session Friday morning "and got a little bit better in each practice."
Turgeon said that Wells "probably won't start" in his first game back, in part to help ease the transition for a ultra-competitive player who remained in the Iowa State game while knowing he had seriously hurt the wrist less than two minutes after tip-off.
"Obviously, Dez is going to help us defensively," Turgeon said. "He's going to help us with toughness. Our break's better with him. There's a lot of things better with Dez on the court."
Turgeon admitted to having one concern.
"Maybe Dez just trying to make up for lost time," he said. "Got to keep him in check and know he can't have a 10-point play, just one possession at a time. He gets pretty amped up. I'm sure he'll be pretty excited tomorrow night."
Wells returns to a different Maryland team than the one he left. The Terps had shown some promise in winning their first six games but in the last month, several of the younger players have shown maturity in difficult situations, particularly in a 73-64 win at Oklahoma State last Sunday.
"To be honest, I was surprised at how well we played the other day, because we hadn't been playing well," Turgeon said. "We were winning, but we were kind of staying the same. We took our toughness to another level, mental and physical toughness in that game. Hopefully that will continue."
Said Wells: "I think I come back to a more mature team, nonetheless. Very mature. They're battle-tested to this point, so that gives me a lot of confidence … Little things we had mistakes on early [in the] season, we won't have those same mistakes ... Just learning how to execute and defend, I think we'll be fine."
Perhaps the biggest change for Wells will be in his leadership role. Early in the season, he was Maryland's unquestioned leader and top scoring option most of the time. In his absence, freshman point guard Melo Trimble has taken over as a floor leader and junior forward Jake Layman as a go-to guy.
Wells looks forward to share the responsibility of leading one of the biggest surprise teams in college basketball.
"I want guys to step up," he said. "That creates a culture and keeps it going when I'm not here [next season] to play. I encourage those guys to step up and lead and talk … I think we have a great chemistry right now and the guys are stepping up and becoming leaders. It's a beautiful thing to see as an older guy."
Layman, who was named the Big Ten's co-player of the week after scoring 21 points and grabbing a career-high 11 rebounds against Oklahoma State, said "just his presence on the court makes everybody feel ... a little more comfortable out there."
Former Maryland star Walt Williams, now the team's sideline radio reporter at home games, said this week that Wells is the only player who regularly commands double teams and — until Layman and sophomore center Damonte Dodd had a couple of impressive dunks off drives against Oklahoma State — the only Terp to regularly "go downhill" toward the basket.
With Wells back, it should open things up for others, particularly Trimble and Layman.
"I think that's what's great about this team, you have to pay attention to everybody — me, Melo, Dez, Damonte, who's playing great right now," Layman said. "We've got so many shooters, it's definitely hard to guard us."
Wells had spent much of the past two weeks working on his on-court conditioning with graduate assistants John Auslander and Steve Asher as well as director of basketball performance Kyle Tarp. They used a program similar to what Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal used after breaking his wrist in the preseason.
The player who returns for Maryland Saturday will not be that much different than the one who suffered the first serious injury of his college career last month.
"There are things I can do better, nothing that I would do different, we're winning both times," Wells said. "As long as I keep attacking the game the way that I know how to attack the game, I think we'll be fine."