COLLEGE PARK — Ever since he showed up at Maryland last season, center Damonte Dodd has been something of a home crowd favorite. As a little-used freshman, Dodd's presence on the court typically meant that either Charles Mitchell and Shaquille Cleare weren't doing their job.
Mitchell and Cleare are long gone, and so is Dodd's status as a third-string backup. After battling with highly-touted 7-foot freshman Michal Cekovsky in the preseason and early in the regular season, Dodd's role, playing time and contribution to what is now a 14-1 start has continued to grow.
Not only did the 6-11 sophomore from Centreville (Queen Anne's County) have his best game as a Terp in Saturday's 70-58 win over Minnesota – finishing with nine points to tie his career-high and 12 rebounds to set a new personal best as well as three blocks - a short stretch he had in the first half also showed his potential.
Dodd scored on a reverse layup, made both free throws after being fouled going for a lob dunk on a pass from senior guard Dez Wells, then scored off his own offensive rebound of a missed shot by Wells. Those plays ended a 14-2 run that helped give Maryland an early 15-point lead.
Maryland coach Mark Turgeon has said often this season that what Dodd has shown in games offensively at times he does on a more regular basis during practice.
"It doesn't surprise me [when Dodd does it during a game] because we're seeing it in practice and I say all the time that if it happens in practice, it usually starts happening in games," Turgeon said. "He's just playing with a whole lot of confidence. The offense is just an added addition to what he gives us every game on defense."
Said Dodd: "In practice, I'm not really focusing too much on offense, because we've got so many scorers, so I just focus on defense. Somehow my offense always comes. Behind the scenes, we just try to practice hard and focus on defense and offense just shows up somewhere."
Unfortunately for Dodd, so do fouls at times. After not fouling in the first half, Dodd picked up two quick fouls against Minnesota center Maurice Walker to start the second half. Unlike the first half, when the Terps were plus-18 with Dodd on the court and minus-15 with Cekovsky, Turgeon went with senior Jon Graham, who did not play in the first half.
As he did Tuesday against Michigan State, Graham gave the Terps an emotional spark off the bench. While he did score as he did against the Spartans (seven points in 19 minutes), Graham had five rebounds and a blocked shot in nine second half-minutes.
"Jon brings his energy, I knew Jon would be fresh and ready to go in the second half, I told him at halftime that he was going to get in there," Turgeon said. "I wanted to give Checko a chance in the first half because it was such a big body [in Walker, a 6-10, 255-pound senior]. Jon just gave us a huge lift."
Dodd was just as happy about Graham's contribution as he was his own.
"He's like my big brother, we're so similar," Dodd said of the 6-8, 225-pound Graham. "We're so similar. We just play with so much energy. I knew one time the shot went up, I said, 'Jon's going to come up with this rebound.' He came up with it. He just never quits. He has so much heart."
That is what Maryland fans are starting to see in Dodd, who spent a year at a military prep school after finishing high school in order to work on his game.
Asked about the crowd's reaction to the way he plays, Dodd said, "I think the fans always liked me, but I think they're starting to like me more."
What he did Saturday certainly didn't hurt.