COLLEGE PARK, Md. _ Jalen Smith rose from the Xfinity Center to deny a layup attempt from Fairfield's Jesus Cruz, and with a second effort, Smith tipped the ball ahead to Maryland teammate Anthony Cowan Jr. Cowan's own layup try didn't fall, but Smith had followed behind, there to rebound and provide a two-handed flush that sparked a needed seven-point run.
It might not even have been the Terps' best dunk of the night, as they shined near the rim and far from it in downing visiting nonconference foe Fairfield, 74-55, on Tuesday night. That honor likely went to Smith's fellow sophomore Aaron Wiggins, who tipped a Stags pass on one side of midcourt and secured it near the sideline on the other before redirecting himself toward the basket. He streaked to the goal, delivering a powerful, one-handed dunk and drawing a foul to produce a three-point play.
Fairfield (1-4) answered with its third 3-pointer in as many baskets, but Wiggins scored one of his own to give No. 6 Maryland a lead that would not evaporate in a fourth straight victory to open the season.
The Terps (4-0) overcame Fairfield's uncharacteristically strong shooting night from deep. The Stags entered play ranked among the bottom 20 of 353 teams nationally in percentage of points scored on 3-pointers, per KenPom, but all but two of their first 23 points came from beyond the arc. With only 19.1% of Fairfield's points in its first four games coming from 3-pointers, the Stags broke out with 12 made shots from deep, accounting for 36 of their 55 points. By halftime, they had seven made 3-pointers on 11 attempts, only 10 fewer than they sank total in their previous four games on more than 50 more tries.
But Maryland responded with a balanced scoring attack, both in where and who the scoring came from. Four Terps finished with at least 12 points, led by Smith's 17, with sophomore Ricky Lindo Jr. adding a career-high 13 on a 6-for-6 shooting night and Cowan's 12 points pushing him into the program's top 20 for a career. Maryland matched a season high with eight 3-pointers while finishing 10-for-15 on layups.
Leading 13-12, the Terps scored five straight points, with Ayala hitting a 3 off a cross-key pass from Cowan and Darryl Morsell following by echoing Wiggins with a steal-and-score dunk. After Fairfield struck for its first basket from inside the arc, Smith prevented another with his block of Cruz, then followed another Ayala 3-pointer with two free throws to push Maryland's lead to double-digits. When the Stags' continued to 3-point prowess to drop the deficit to eight, the Terps doubled it with eight straight points, eventually taking a 41-27 advantage into the locker room.
Three takeaways from No. 7 Maryland's 80-50 victory over Oakland �
Maryland kept Fairfield at a distance for most of the second half, with the quartet of Smith, Cowan, Ayala and Lindo scoring their first 28 points of the period. Smith, a Mount Saint Joseph product, added another dunk off an alley-oop pass from Hakim Hart, letting out a celebratory scream as the ball ricocheted back down off his left shoulder.
The slam came amid an 8-0 run that built the Terps' lead to 18. Once more, Maryland found itself in a competitive contest against a nonconference foe midway through the first half, but the Terps managed again to win comfortably. They get one final home game, Friday against George Mason, before leaving College Park for the first time for Thanksgiving weekend's AdvoCare Invitational in Orlando.
