COLLEGE PARK — Rodney Rice might have played his way off the bench.

The sophomore shooting guard scored 26 of his game-high 28 points in the first half, and Maryland men’s basketball overcame a lethargic start to wallop visiting Mount St. Mary’s, 86-52, on Friday night before an announced 11,726 at Xfinity Center.

Junior point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie added 13 points, two rebounds and two assists, graduate student small forward Selton Miguel compiled 11 points and three rebounds and senior power forward Julian Reese, a Randallstown native and St. Frances graduate, racked up nine points and 10 rebounds.

And after an eye-opening 22-point, 20-rebound performance in Monday’s 79-49 romp over Manhattan in the season opener for both teams, freshman center Derik Queen, a Baltimore resident, chipped in eight points, a team-best three assists and two steals.

The Terps (2-0) opened the season with back-to-back victories by 30-point margins for the first time since 2014-15. They collected their 17th consecutive win against an unranked nonconference opponent and improved to 12-0 in their all-time series with the Mountaineers.

But the spotlight belonged to Rice, a 6-foot-4, 198-pound Clinton resident and DeMatha Catholic graduate who transferred from Virginia Tech in the offseason. After coming off the bench to score 11 of 12 points in the second half against the Jaspers on Monday, Rice repeated that role against Mount St. Mary’s.

This time, Rice made his presence felt early and often. He shot 10 of 13 from the field in the first 20 minutes, including 3 of 5 from behind the 3-point arc, and accumulated five rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Rice’s 26 points in the first half matched the Mountaineers’ output over the same span, and he became the first Maryland player to amass 20 points in a half since Jahmir Young scored 28 in the second half of a 72-69 loss at Northwestern on Jan. 17. During a 1:54 stretch of the half on Friday night, Rice scored 10 straight points.

Despite his eruption, Rice said he had no objection to coach Kevin Willard’s decision to have him contribute from the bench.

“It’s just Coach’s game plan,” he said. “We’re going to stick with that, and we’re going to execute regardless as a team.”

Rice blew past his previous personal best of 17 points set against North Carolina State on March 8, 2023. Seven months later, he decided to leave the Hokies and chose the Terps.

Willard said Rice’s performance is a culmination of his effort in recent practices.

“This is the way Rod’s been playing for the last two or three weeks in practice,” he said. “It’s the way he played the other night, to be honest with you, when he came into the second half and kind of did the same thing. He’s got a great knack for scoring and knows how to score, and he’s been working hard. So he’s playing well.”

After playing 15 minutes in the first half, Rice was on the court for only five minutes in the second half. He missed his only field goal attempt and drained a pair of free throws.

Armed with a lead that didn’t dip below 29 points in the second half, it was an early night for some Maryland starters. Queen and sophomore shooting guard DeShawn Harris-Smith played just six minutes in the final period, and Gillespie played only seven.

The Terps capitalized on an inability by Mount St. Mary’s to protect the ball. The Mountaineers turned the ball over 25 times, and Maryland pounced by converting those miscues into 27 points. On the flipside, the Terps committed just six turnovers that led to four Mount St. Mary’s points.

The Mountaineers’ fast-paced style of play suited Maryland, according to Willard.

“They press, run and jump, and that’s part of the way they do it, and I like the way they play,” he said. “I do think we can play two different styles in the game. I thought [junior power forward] Tafara [Gapare] and [graduate student small forward] Jordan [Geronimo] came in with energy, and we had switched up our pick-and-roll defense. We went from drop to pretty much trapping and rotating.

“I think within the game, Ja’Kobi takes a break, and you bring [graduate student point guard] Jay [Young] in. So you don’t really get a break. Jay’s just as good a defender as Ja’Kobi. So I think we’re a little more athletic in the fact that we can play technically three different pick-and-roll defenses in the same half. I think that’s really helped us.”

The Terps, who trailed just once at 2-0 against the Jaspers, found themselves in an unfamiliar setting when Mount St. Mary’s scored the game’s first seven points on 3 of 4 shooting. Meanwhile, a 0 of 4 outing contributed to Maryland wallowing in a 7-0 hole just 2:32 into the first half.

Miguel’s layup kickstarted a 9-3 spurt in a 2:08 stretch for the Terps. When the Mountaineers responded with four consecutive points for a 14-9 lead with 13:30 remaining, Maryland embarked on a 13-2 run over a 3:57 span to assume a 22-16 advantage with 9:14 to go.

After junior point guard Javon Ervin sank a 3-pointer, the Terps scored 16 unanswered points. By the time graduate student shooting guard Xavier Lipscomb converted the second of two free throws with 5:31 left in the first half, the Mountaineers had gone 3:27 without a point.

Maryland closed out the frame with a 20-6 spurt capped by a 3-pointer and layup from Rice to enjoy a 58-26 separation at halftime.

Sophomore point guard Dallas Hobbs paced Mount St. Mary’s with 21 points and three rebounds, and redshirt junior power forward Dola Adebayo contributed 11 points and five rebounds. But they were the only players to reach double digits in scoring for the Mountaineers (1-1), who missed out on a chance to start 2-0 for the first time since the 1993-94 squad did so.

Florida A&M at Maryland

Monday, 7 p.m.

Stream: Big Ten Plus

Radio: 105.7 FM

This article will be updated. Have a news tip? Contact sports editor Tim Schwartz at timschwartz@baltsun.com , 410-332-6200 and x.com/timschwartz13 .