By PAUL GOTHAM
COLUMBUS, OH — Three years, three conferences and two schools later Dez Wells is back where he started – in the NCAA Tournament.
Just don’t expect the Maryland Terrapins senior to take the time and look back on what he’s accomplished.
“I’m staying away from reflecting until our season is over,” Wells said during Saturday’s press event at the Nationwide Arena. “I feel like when you reflect there’s a sense of complacency or satisfaction in what you’ve done so far. I’m not satisfied with any of that.”
When Wells does look back, he will view a collegiate career that started in the Atlantic 10 at Xavier, traveled to the Atlantic Coast Conference and now in the Big Ten as a Maryland Terrapin.
Sunday night Wells has a chance to reach the Sweet Sixteen for the second time in his career.
“I expected to be here,” Wells stated. “I expect for us to win. I will be disappointed if anything less happens. My standards, my expectations for this team are high.”
Standing in the way is the No. 5 West Virginia Mountaineers (24-9).
“You just have to continue to be who you are and trust in the process,” Wells stated. “Regardless of how high the stakes are, you just go out there and you compete. It’s just a game. You can’t put more pressure on yourself. It already surrounds the game.”
West Virginia comes into the NCAA Tournament leading the nation in steals per game (10.8), turnovers forced (19.6) and offensive rebounds (16.8).
“The challenge for us would be to recognize when we have an advantage when we break their press,” Wells noted. “So if we don’t have numbers or we don’t have an advantage against their defense after we break the press, then to bring the ball back out and get it set up for a good play. Just taking care of the ball. If we can control our turnovers and control the tempo of the game, then I think we have a good chance of winning.”
Maryland made 11 consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament from 1993-2004 and has advanced to the Sweet Sixteen seven times in the last 20 years. But the Terps, which started the season unranked, returned to the Dance this season for the first time in four years. They won eight straight in February and finished the season eighth in the USA Today Coaches Poll.
“I think the commitment day in, day out to a certain level of excellence each and every practice and each and every game,” Wells said when asked for the reason behind this year’s turnaround. “You had a willingness to buy into what Coach (Mark) Turgeon wants us to do as a team and everybody being unselfish and everybody’s focused on winning. When everybody has the same dream, the same goals in mind, it makes it a lot easier for Coach Turgeon to coach and makes it a lot better and more fun for us to play with each other.”
The Terps are 6-0 on the season in games decided by a single possession including Friday’s second round win over Valparaiso.
“The reason we’ve been successful in those games so far this year is when the game’s on the line we defend pretty well and we rebound pretty well,” Maryland’s head coach Mark Turgeon said. “We’ve really had to work hard on execution late in the games because of it.”
Wells, who sat out seven games earlier in the season with an injury, has topped double figures in each of the last 14 games – a stretch in which the Terps are 11-3.
“Dez has been good because he’s been fresher down the stretch,” Turgeon said. “I think he’s been able to put us on his back here when we won those eight straight games, because he was mentally and physically fresh for us.”
Wells averaged 9.8 points, 4.9 rebounds and garnered Atlantic 10 All-Rookie honors with a Xavier team which lost to Baylor 75-70 in the South Region semi-final. The 6-5 guard/forward scored 13.1 points per game with Maryland during his sophomore season and garnered a First Team ACC All-Tournament selection. He scored 14.7 and was named third team All-ACC last
“It’s been a fun road, Wells commented. “It’s been fast. I’m very appreciative of the University of Maryland and everything they’ve done for me. I just want to finish out the season strong.”
Maryland and West Virginia will be the second on the schedule at Nationwide Arena, Sunday night.
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