LINCOLN, NEB. — The big shots keep falling for Maryland senior guard Dez Wells.
Nearly two full seasons after Wells missed two shots in the closing seconds that could have beaten eventual-national champion Connecticut in the 2013-14 opener in Brooklyn, N.Y, and more than a year after Wells seemed surprised to hit a 3-pointer to beat Miami in College Park, the last-second heroics are almost second-nature.
A couple of weeks ago, it was a 28-point performance at Xfinity Center that took down No. 5 Wisconsin at Xfinity Center. Last Tuesday, it was Wells scoring 10 of his game-high 20 minutes in the last 5 ½ minutes to hold off Rutgers in Piscataway, N.J.
Then came Sunday night, when Wells made a 17-footer from the right wing with 8.8 seconds left in the game, the 35-second shot nearly expired and Nebraska looking to give an overflow crowd at the Pinnacle Bank Center something to smile about after a long season. His basket provided Maryland with its final points in a 64-61 victory.
Wells said after the Miami game that he had never been in that position before, since in high school he played behind John Wall and C.J. Leslie.
"It's become natural to me, watching those guys when I was younger and just dreaming it and having the faith that I could do something special one day, " Wells said after the game. "I just keep my confidence. If I don't believe I'm going to make the shot, I'm not going to take it. That being said, Coach [Mark Turgeon] has a lot of faith in me and I have a lot of faith in myself and my abilities on the court. My guys did a great job of getting me open, too."
Wells had his second-straight double double with 18 points and career-high-tying 12 rebounds.
Said freshman point guard Melo Trimble, who also hit a few big shots down the stretch in a 21-point, seven-rebound performance, "It's just us playing with confidence. We have confidence in each one of us. When Dez makes shots, we all know we're going to make shots, too."
Since finally getting the strength back in the right wrist he fractured and ligament he tore early in the season – missing a month as a result – Wells has been on a late-season tear. He has scored in double figures the past 11 games, averaging nearly 18 points while shooting nearly 53 percent from the field.
While it seems likely that Trimble will get first-team all-Big Ten honors when the announcement is made Monday on the Big Ten Network, Wells' performance over the past month could help him make a push toward receiving first-team recognition himself.
Turgeon, who along with Wisconsin's Bo Ryan is one of the favorites for Big Ten Coach of the Year, has made it clear recently that he thinks Wells should be mentioned among the top players in the league.
"Once again, we had had the best player on the floor in Dez Wells," Turgeon said Sunday. "He was terrific again."