COLLEGE PARK — Melo Trimble has helped Maryland win its share of games as a freshman this season by taking over at the end, by hitting clutch shots and free throws, by doing what great point guards are supposed to do to lead their team.
In Maryland's 73-65 win over Rutgers on Wednesday night, Trimble did less than usual offensively, finishing with 11 points. Yet he did plenty of other things -- including five rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Trimble also had plenty of help from his teammates.
On a night when the Scarlet Knights employed a similar strategy to what Virginia did in beating Maryland at Xfinity Center last month by double-teaming Trimble and forcing him to give up the ball, other Terps stepped up.
Senior guard Dez Wells, who sat out the loss to the then-No. 7 Cavaliers in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge while recovering from a fractured wrist, finished with a team-high 17 points against Rutgers -- nine coming in a game-closing 22-8 run.
Freshman Jared Nickens, making his second straight start, finished with 12 points, all coming on 3-point shots. One of them with 6:18 left cut Maryland's deficit to 59-58; the last with 2:22 to go gave the Terps a 67-63 lead.
Junior forward Jake Layman had his second straight poor shooting game (3 of 12 after going 2 of 11 in a win at Purdue on Saturday), but he still managed to finish with 12 points and a career-high 13 rebounds.
Even senior forward Evan Smotrycz, who has struggled at times in his role off the bench after missing the first month of the season with a broken foot, contributed seven points, six rebounds and two assists.
It added up to another game in which the whole was greater than the sum of the parts, as it was at Mackey Arena last weekend and on several other occasions in this turnaround season for the now 16-2 Terps.
"Whatever it takes for us to win, we'll do that," said Turgeon, who took sole possession of first place in the Big Ten and will take at least a share of it into Saturday's nationally-televised showdown with Michigan State. "We'll figure it out.
"I think that's what I like about this team. It wasn't looking good and then we said, 'We'll guard and we'll rebound and we'll make just enough shots and free throws to win the game."
Layman credited Trimble for controlling the way the Terps played at the end.
"He does a great job of finding us within our offense," Layman said. "Coming off ball screens, he's great with bringing two guys with him and finding the open man, and it showed tonight."
It's one thing for Trimble to make the right pass, it's another for his teammates to finish the plays by making shots or free throws.
Although it took some time, Nickens was able to bury a couple of 3-pointers to open up the driving lanes for Wells, Layman and even Smotrycz. And the Terps seem to be confident that their time will always come with Trimble running the show.
"It helps us that we have multiple people that can create shots for others, we just spread the floor and Melo recognized everything, Dez did as well, and we got open shots," Nickens said.
That the Terps won another game when they shot less than 40 percent or less -- the third time in four Big Ten wins -- is testimony to the new identity of Turgeon's team.
"I think every league game we haven't shot well so far," Layman said. "It just shows how well our defense has been doing. Hopefully the shots will start falling, and we'll start playing much better."
Given who plays point guard for the Terps these days, it seems almost certain.