COLLEGE PARK — The change was made just more than two minutes into the first half: Jared Nickens entered the game. Dion Wiley was summoned to Maryland's bench.
Wiley has had some great individual moments during his freshman season with the Terps. Wednesday, however, was an off-night for the young guard from Potomac.
While Maryland beat North Carolina Central, 67-56, Wiley was 0-for-2 from the field and finished scoreless in 16 minutes of action after scoring 37 points in the Terps' previous three games.
Wiley failed to box out at one point on defense, which allowed an N.C. Central player to collect an offensive rebound. Wiley also had five turnovers, including one on each of the Terps' first three possessions.
He was substituted out after the third turnover.
"Dion just didn't have it tonight," Terps coach Mark Turgeon said. "He never got it started and just didn't have it. But Dion's been great for us, and he'll be ready to go [for the next game] on Saturday."
Dodd continuing to facilitate
Damonte Dodd had five points, six rebounds and two blocks Wednesday. And after recording a career-high two assists in the Terps' 82-62 win over Winthrop on Saturday, he had three in just 18 minutes Wednesday.
"We do a lot of stuff with our post guys with the ball in their hands," Turgeon said. "And Damonte, we've really worked hard on some post-feed cuts and some backdoor plays and things like that, and Damonte's done a nice job with that. … He led to two layups in the first half for us."
Tough game for Baltimore native
Dante Holmes' night ended on the bench, forced to watch as the Terps closed out a win over his Eagles team.
The junior shooting guard from Baltimore is averaging 11.2 points per game and entered Wednesday having scored 15 points or more in two of the Eagles' previous three games. But Holmes, who played at St. Frances Academy, finished with just seven points against Maryland and fouled out in the closing minutes of the second half.
Holmes was 3-for-12 from the field, 0-of-4 from 3-point range and had three turnovers.
Graham provides valuable minutes during second half
Turgeon was able to rest forward Jake Layman some during the second half Wednesday with the help of senior forward Jon Graham (Calvert Hall).
After playing just three minutes during the first half, Graham was on the floor for 11 during the second half and contributed six points and five rebounds after halftime.
Graham was 3-for-4 from the field.
"I was really able to help Jake out more because Jon Graham gave us some great minutes in the second half," Turgeon said.