Maryland freshman Diamond Stone came off the bench to win a game by himself

No. 4 Maryland is distinct by its abundance of offensive weapons, but nearly all of them were sputtering in the Big Ten opener against Penn State on Wednesday. Star point guard Melo Trimble couldn’t buy a bucket most of the afternoon, senior wing Jake Layman never found his rhythm and Rasheed Sulaimon missed every shot he took from the field.

The Terps were officially on the ropes on their home court. That’s when Mark Turgeon turned to his bench.

Maryland’s reserves came in and scored 32 of the team’s 47 points in the second half and outscored the starters on 39-31 on the day. Despite being down eight at the half and 10 with under eight minutes left, the Terrapins survived 70-64 mostly thanks to the massive effort from their second unit. By the way: it all came from one freshman.

No, Diamond Stone isn’t a typical freshman. The McDonald’s All-American was one of the biggest recruits in Maryland history, and the most polished interior scorer entering college basketball this season. When the Terps scored what was considered a somewhat surprising commitment late in the process, some thought Stone suddenly made a talented Maryland team one of the best in the country.

Those are lofty assumptions for any freshman, but there was Stone against Penn State, delivering on every possible illusion that accompanied his arrival on campus. Penn State had no answer for the 7’0, 250-pound Milwaukee native, and Stone responded with one of the best games by any player this season.

Maryland entered the game hitting over 40 percent of its attempts from three this season, but with the shooters struggling (5-of-19 from three) and Trimble unable to create for himself (10 points on 3-of-15 shooting), the second-half offense essentially devolved into feeding Stone down low on nearly every possession. Most of the time, all Penn State could do was foul, and Stone made them pay by hitting 19 of a school record 25 free throw attempts.

And when they didn’t foul, Stone crammed in bucket after bucket.

Stone’s 39 was the second-most points a power conference player has gone for this season, falling only behind Ben Simmons’ absurd 43-point, 14 rebound, seven-assist, five-steal performance against North Florida. After struggling a bit against North Carolina’s experienced front line in Maryland’s only loss of the season, Stone has now scored double figures in six straight games and has a signature performance for his freshman year.

This was a performance every bit as rare and triumphant as you might think with such gaudy numbers:

Stone is soaking up possessions at a truly ridiculous rate right now. He’s using 31.4 percent of Maryland’s possessions (No. 23 in the country, per KenPom) and taking 32.5 percent of the team’s shots (No. 30 in the country) when he’s on the floor. He’s also fifth in the country in offensive rebound rate (19.3) and has an impressive block rate of 6.5.

There’s still a big debate over how good Maryland actually is. They’re top five in the polls, but only No. 18, according to KenPom. For most of the afternoon against Penn State, the Terps looked a lot closer to the paper tiger contender the numbers see them as than the real juggernaut the coaches and media see.

The viability of Maryland as a potential Final Four team will continue to play out through the rest of the Big Ten schedule, but everyone can agree on one thing. If the freshman Stone keeps playing like this, the Terrapins are suddenly much more formidable.