COLLEGE PARK — Maryland center Damonte Dodd went from barely playing as a freshman last season to becoming a starter and regular contributor for the first two months of his sophomore year to barely playing the past two games.
That could change Tuesday when the 10th-ranked Terps visit Rutgers. A freak pregame injury to promising freshman center Michal Cekovsky prior to Saturday's home win over Michigan has given Maryland coach Mark Turgeon one fewer option in the post.
While an MRI Monday showed no structural damage to the knee of the 7-footer from Slovakia, Cekovsky is expected to be held out until at least Sunday's game at Nebraska.
It leaves Maryland with three options to play down low against the Scarlet Knights and possibly the Cornhuskers: the 6-11, 250-pound Dodd, forward Evan Smotrycz and forward Jon Graham.
Though he continued to struggle offensively, Smotrycz had nine rebounds and four assists in 27 minutes against the Wolverines, and Graham contributed six points and four rebounds in 12 minutes of the 66-56 win.
So where does that leave Dodd?
Dodd played just six minutes against Michigan, getting one basket and one rebound, after he played just seven minutes in last weeks's upset win over Wisconsin. Cekovsky had a huge impact in that game, playing 24 minutes and finishing with six rebounds, four points and great defense on Badgers center Frank Kaminsky in the first half.
Dodd finished that game with four fouls and a turnover.
"Damonte's pretty resilient," coach Mark Turgeon said before practice Monday. "Our whole motto, like most teams, is 'Next play, just move on.' Hopefully Damonte will do that. It'll be nice to get him in there, keep him out of foul trouble so he can get a nice sweat going and feel comfortable."
Dodd understands that he will be asked to do more as long as Cekovsky is sidelined.
"It [stinks] that he went down, of course. It wasn't as bad as they thought it was, hopefully he'll be back," Dodd said. "For Me, Jon Graham and Evan, we have to be smart on defense and just step up our role, stay out of foul trouble. Hopefully Checko will be back soon."
Dodd, who was an unheralded player until his senior year at Queen Anne's High on the Eastern Shore and spent a year at a military prep school in Virginia, had shown a lot of promise earlier in the season.
Dodd had 10 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks as Maryland won the CBE Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas by beating Arizona State and then No. 13 Iowa State. He had nine points, 10 rebounds and three blocks against Winthrop. He also had tied a career-high nine points and set a career high with 12 rebounds and three blocks in the team's Big Ten home opener against Minnesota.
In the 14 games since, Dodd has averaged 2.1 points, 2.3 rebounds, 0.9 blocks and 2.3 fouls per game. Four times he has played less than 10 minutes, five times he has failed to score and three times he hasn't grabbed a single rebound.
Hampered for a little while by a leg injury, Dodd admitted Monday that most of his problems have come from the neck up.
"[The injury] affected me when it first happened, it hurt. But I think I just let it affect me more mentally than physically. It was something I had to play through," Dodd said Monday. "It doesn't hurt no more, so now it's more me just getting my head back together and getting back to where I was."
Dodd said that his teammates have encouraged him, saying that "everyone goes through those type of dry spells, just get back to being who you are. I've got to get back to who I was."
He noted that his big game against Minnesota a couple moves he made in a late December win at Oklahoma State -- when he put the ball on the floor and scored like his idol, Kevin Durant -- might have sidetracked him from focusing on being more of a defensive presence and rebounder.
"It got me away from my role, but it was kind of exciting, just everyone telling me, 'We see you do this, we saw you do that,'" Dodd said. "I think I tried to do a little bit more than I'm supposed to, at this point. Coach says, we all got away at one point from who we were so and play one on one basketball. But I think as a team everyone is getting back to what they do and doing their role. That's why we've been more successful."
Turgeon said his support of Dodd hasn't wavered.
"We have tremendous confidence in Damonte," he said "The whole team does, the coaching staff does. That's why he continues to start throughout the year. We need him to play well, with Checko down, there's no doubt about it. He just needs to relax and do the best he can."