Mark Turgeon identified Anthony Cowan as the guard of the future early in the recruiting process.
With an exhibition game at the collegiate level under his belt, Cowan looked just as impressive as he was advertised to be.
With Melo Trimble suffering an ankle injury in the first half against Catawba College, Cowan got his chance to run the offense. The former St. John’s College standout scored 15 points (5-of-8 shooting) and dished out six assists (second on the team).
Cowan did a variety of things well in his first action with the Terrapins.
First of all, the freshman guard looked very comfortable as a ball-handler.
Cowan ran the offense nearly the entire time that he was on the court. He was very fluid in his movements and always seemed like he knew where to go with the basketball.
The former Cadet executed the pick-and-roll well on multiple occasions. Cowan seemed to target a cutting Justin Jackson quite frequently, which could mean that the duo will connect quite a bit this season.
Cowan looks to be a tremendous passer, who looks to dish first but also isn’t afraid to take his shot.
Much like Trimble, he’s incredibly quick and has a knack for driving to the basket. He also got the free throw line more than any other Terp.
Anthony Cowan made good on five of his seven attempts from the charity stripe. He was like Trimble in the sense that he seemed to know when he could make his way towards the rim and draw contact.
One of the more impressive areas of Cowan’s game is his ability to defend.
As a point guard, he’s going to be guarding the opposing team’s floor general a large amount of the time. His quickness allows him to be in the face of opposing guards while also allowing him to recover if he gets caught out of position.
Obviously, Cowan is going to handle the ball a lot this coming season. On the other hand, it may not be as much as he did on Saturday due to Trimble exiting the game relatively early.
Cowan’s offensive acumen is going to help Trimble to be more of a scoring threat than he ever has been. In the past, Trimble has been forced to handle the ball a good chunk of the time.
Cowan’s athleticism is truly a remarkable thing to watch and he’s only going to get better with more games under his belt.
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