In three games for Maryland men’s basketball, Derik Queen hasn’t disappointed. But there’s still room for the Baltimore resident to grow.

That became evident after halftime of the Terps’ 84-53 rout of Florida A&M Monday night at Xfinity Center in College Park. When the second half opened, Queen was not on the court but on the bench and did not enter the game until a quarter of the way in.

Asked about the freshman center’s absence from the start of the second half, coach Kevin Willard replied, “I didn’t like the way he was playing in the first half.”

Asked to elaborate, Willard said, “I just didn’t like the way he was playing. That’s my decision. That’s the great thing about being the head coach. I get to make decisions, and you guys get to criticize me.”

Queen scored 11 points, dished out a team-high three assists, and made two steals, but played just 16:40 — a season low for him. As dazzling as he has been this early in his college career, it’s clear he still has to meet certain standards imposed by Willard.

Here are three observations from Monday night’s win:

The press is back

Maryland led the Big Ten in defense last season allowing 65.9 points per game despite refraining from employing a full- or half-court press for extended periods. It appears the team is going back to the well.

In their three victories thus far, the Terps have turned to the press, and the results have been eye-opening, especially in wins against Mount St. Mary’s on Friday and Florida A&M. Those two opponents turned the ball over a combined 47 times, which are the most in back-to-back games since forcing 49 in wins against Seattle and the College of Charleston in 2010.

Of those 47 takeaways, 27 are steals, which are the most in consecutive games since collecting that many in victories over Charleston Southern and Fairfield in 2009. Willard credited changes in personnel with being able to field a more effective press.

“I think with [junior point guard] Ja’Kobi [Gillespie] and [graduate student small forward] Selton [Miguel] at the front of the press, it’s different than it was last year with [point guard] Jahmir [Young] and [shooting guard] DeShawn [Harris-Smith],” he said. “[I was] trying to save Jahmir minutes knowing we didn’t really have a backup. DeShawn’s a much better second-line guy because of his length, and he’s really good at reading where to go and what to do. So I think the press is much more effective this year because of the guys we have on it.”

Maryland has capitalized on the turnovers. The offense scored 27 points off of the Mountaineers’ 25 giveaways on Friday and 31 off of the Rattlers’ 22 giveaways on Monday.

Senior power forward Julian Reese said the press is reminiscent of what the Terps did in 2022-23, their first year under Willard.

“We’re trying to [instill] that culture with all of the new guys,” the Randallstown native and St. Frances graduate said. “It’s a fairly new team, and that’s just kind of our identity. In my sophomore year, that was our identity, and for us to get back to that, we just got to come out and punch guys in the mouth like we did today. I feel like if we keep getting to that, we’ll be good.”

So is the versatility on offense

Three games, three catalysts for Maryland.

In the season-opening 79-49 rout of Manhattan on Nov. 4, Queen exploded for 22 points and 20 rebounds. In the 86-52 thumping of Mount St. Mary’s, sophomore shooting guard Rodney Rice amassed 28 points and five rebounds off the bench.

And on Monday, Reese’s 21 points, nine rebounds and two assists led a group of five players who reached double digits in scoring. Reese said the offensive distribution is encouraging for the players.

“I feel like it’s helping us build trust in each other,” he said. “I think we’re a very versatile team where anybody can have a good night. Derik had a good first night, Rodney second night was electric, and I feel like tonight was just my night. Friday is probably going to be somebody else’s night. If we just keep doing that, we’re going to be good, and we want to be great.”

Unlike last season when the offense was dependent on Young to create opportunities and shoulder the scoring load, Willard said the roster is filled with options.

“I do think we’re definitely being more balanced,” he said. “I don’t think Ja’Kobi’s been our leading scorer yet. I do think that Ja’Kobi’s got that ability to kind of break out. It just hasn’t really happened. I do think that starting unit kind of knows that there’s no pressure on one guy where, obviously, we felt a lot of pressure last year if Jahmir didn’t play at a certain level, we were in trouble. I think everyone’s starting to realize that there’s a lot of really good players on this team that can help everybody out.”

And hello, 3-pointers

Maryland’s dominance in the post against Florida A&M — a 44-26 advantage in points in the paint — overshadowed an unproductive outing behind the 3-point line. The offense shot just 27.6% after connecting on 8 of 29 attempts.

But if you pull back to look at the larger picture, the eight 3-pointers are an improvement from last season. The Terps finished with eight or more 3-pointers in just seven of 33 games, and the current group is averaging 7.3 3-pointers through three games compared with 6.1 last winter.

That might explain why Willard wasn’t too worried about the team’s long-range accuracy, which he noted might have been influenced by some reserves taking unnecessary 3-pointers in the waning moments of the win against the Rattlers (0-3).

“I think we need to take some better shots at the beginning of games,” he said of trying to upgrade the offense’s 3-point efficiency. “I think some of the shots we’re taking at the beginning of games are a little bit rushed, a little bit out of rhythm. I think if we can get into a little bit better of a rhythm and take some better shots early in the game, our percentage will go up. But the fact that we’re making eight of them and last year we were making one of them, I’ll take that any day.”

Have a news tip? Contact Edward Lee at eklee@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/EdwardLeeSun.