BLACKSBURG, Va. --- Just before tip at Cassell Coliseum, where Maryland will play down a man.
Freshman Mychal Parker did not make the trip for the Terrapins. A school spokesman said he remained in College Park to attend to academic matters.
Parker, who has appeared in 11 games, is averaging 1.5 points and 1.4 rebounds. He has logged only 10 minutes in conference play, including eight in the Terps' first meeting with the Hokies.
There's often a point in a blowout when a coach on the wrong end of things makes a decision that all but acknowledges it's an unusual situation.
That point arose in Maryland's loss to Virginia Tech on Thursday with 12:19 to play in the second half.
The Terrapins trailed by 15 and were on their way to a 74-57 defeat. Adrian Bowie was just tagged with his fourth foul.
And seldom-used Mychal Parker scampered to the scorer's table.
Parker had played 48 minutes in Maryland's first 17 games. He had eight DNPs. He'd logged 24 minutes since the start of December.
And the freshman wound up collecting eight minutes while scoring two points and grabbing a rebound. While he was in, Maryland narrowed its deficit to eight points before fading in the final seven minutes.
"Sometimes you do that just to shake things up," coach Gary Williams said Friday. "I thought we were going along, not much excitement, just going along. When Mike got in the game, I knew immediately there would be a buzz in the crowd. You get that effect when you put a guy in like that. I thought Mike was fine. I thought he was poised out there. He certainly wasn't a negative out there on the court, that's for sure."
After a good chunk of the announced crowd of 13,427 dispersed from Comcast Center on Monday night, Maryland freshman Mychal Parker rewarded fans with a dunk in the closing seconds of a 105-76 defeat of Seattle.
"It was great," coach Gary Williams said with a chuckle. "It was right in front of the bench, so you could see he really got up."
Indeed, Parker's athleticism is not in question. But he's at a stage in his development where there is still plenty to learn.
Parker had four points in seven minutes, a solid debut but certainly not as noticed as the first games of fellow freshmen Pe'Shon Howard and Terrell Stoglin.
Howard had eight assists, Stoglin 15 points. Both played at least 18 minutes and figure to factor into Maryland's rotation all season.
Whether Parker finds his way into a similar spot for the Terps (1-0), who meet College of Charleston on Wednesday, remains to be seen.
"Pe'Shon played in a very good program at Oak Hill," Williams said. "Terrell was a very experienced point guard coming out of high school. Mychal, he went to a couple different places and was never in one solid place. The idea of running a halfcourt oiffense and all those things, Mychal was good enough last year to get the ball on the wing and just do what he does and score. Now all the sudden, we're asking him to run stuff he's never had to do before."
That helps explain why Parker was the fifth option off the bench on Monday. But Williams is encouraged by what he's seen so far, even if Parker isn't quite as polished as the other freshman guards.
"There's a curve there, but he's catching up. He's been really good in practice," Williams said. "He's never complained. He's trying to learn, and that's all you can ask."
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