Through the first two games, no Maryland men’s basketball player has been on the floor for longer than 49 minutes, which is a departure from a year ago.

Over the same span last season, point guard Jahmir Young, shooting guard DeShawn Harris-Smith, small forward Donta Scott and power forward Julian Reese played more than 53 minutes in games against Mount St. Mary’s and Davidson. Young played a whopping 69 minutes, and Scott played almost 62 minutes.

Fast forward to this fall, and junior point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie leads at 49 minutes with freshman center Derik Queen at 46. Stepping back to look at the bigger picture, five reserves have come off the bench to play at least 22 minutes thus far.After the Terps’ 86-52 dusting of the Mountaineers on Friday night at Xfinity Center in College Park, coach Kevin Willard said the distribution of playing time should benefit the team later in the year.

“I think in the long run for Ju, Ja’Kobi, all these guys, getting experience and playing against guys who are going after them and showing them different looks is great,” he said. “But at the same time, not putting a lot of mileage on guys this time of year will pay dividends for all those guys when they do have to put a lot of mileage on come December.”

Here are three observations from Friday night’s victory.

Maryland didn’t blink while facing an early deficit: In an ideal world, your favorite team would never trail. But over the course of a long season, deficits are going to happen.

Against Mount St. Mary’s (1-1), the Terps found themselves in a 7-0 hole after missing their first four shots and a pair of free throws by Reese while the Mountaineers went 3-for-4. Graduate student small forward Selton Miguel’s layup ignited a 22-9 spurt to give Maryland a 22-16 advantage that wouldn’t be threatened again.

Gillespie credited the bench — which scored 29 of the team’s 58 first-half points courtesy of a 26-point outburst by sophomore shooting guard Rodney Rice — for being the catalyst.

“We responded really well,” he said. “Our bench players came in and kind of helped us turn it around and bring more energy because we came out flat.”

Rice said the reserves understand their roles in providing a lift for the starters.

“When we need it, that’s what we’re going to do,” he said. “We’re going to play with energy and assert ourselves.”

The early hole didn’t fluster Willard.

“I think the biggest difference is, I probably would have called timeouts last year,” he said. “Now I understand that I’m going to have guys coming off the bench, and I’m going to have guys that can really pick us up defensively and offensively. We’ve got two big guys out there that are eventually going to get involved, and something good’s going to happen. Teams are going to come in, and they’re going to give you their best shot in the first five to 10 minutes. We weathered the storm, and then we finally imposed our will.”

The 3-point shooting is beginning to show glimpses of its potential: After shooting just 21.7% (5 of 23) from behind the 3-point line in Monday’s season-opening 79-49 rout of Manhattan, Maryland showed improvement Friday night.

The offense converted 39.1% (9 of 23) against Mount St. Mary’s. After hitting a blistering 53.8% (7 of 13) from long distance in the first half, the hot touch cooled considerably in the second half (20.0%, 2 of 10), but the outcome was already well in hand by that point.

Rice, who drained 3 of 5 3-point attempts, said there are few restrictions on who can try their hand from the perimeter.

“Everyone is capable of hitting that shot from 3,” he said. “As a team, we can stretch it out, we can go down low, outside. It doesn’t matter. We’re very versatile as a team. We can get the job done anywhere.”

For now, it seemed Manhattan and Mount St. Mary’s spent time concentrating on limiting opportunities for Reese and Queen in the paint. Gillespie, who finished 3 of 4 from long distance, said he and his teammates hope to give Reese and Queen more room to operate by stretching defenses with their 3-point shooting.

“If we’re knocking down 3s consistently like that, they can’t double Ju or Derik when we throw it in there,” he said.

Ja’Kobi Gillespie is starting to demonstrate his command of the team: As unfair as it might be, Gillespie will likely draw consistent comparisons to Young, the undisputed leader of last year’s squad. Much is expected of the Belmont transfer, and early results appear encouraging.

Through two games, Gillespie is scoring nearly as many points as Young did (29 vs. 30, respectively) although Young might have been the better facilitator with 11 assists to Gillespie’s seven. But if there is one area where Gillespie is excelling, it’s his ability to protect the ball.

Gillespie has turned the ball over only once. Young had seven turnovers over the same span, but that was probably because of the team’s over-reliance on him to create openings for himself and others.

Gillespie said the transition from Belmont to the Terps has been smooth.

“The scrimmages really helped just find my role and find when to get my teammates the ball,” he said. “So I feel a lot more comfortable now.”

Willard said the questions Gillespie might have are the same ones his new teammates are trying to address.

“I think he’s still trying to figure a lot of stuff out, which is the good thing,” he said. “I think he’s trying to figure out playing with two really talented big guys, ‘When do I pass it? When do I shoot it?’ So I think we’re just starting to see a little bit of how good Ja’Kobi can be. I think everyone’s still trying to figure out, ‘When do I shoot? When do I not shoot?’ What I do like is everyone’s defensive energy has been really good to start the season.”

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