Last year Qudus Wahab was a March Madness sensation. He helped carry the Georgetown Hoyas on an improbable run to win the Big East tournament as a nine-seed. Even in the Hoyas’ first round loss to Colorado in the NCAA tournament, Wahab shined with 20 points and 12 rebounds.
Wahab appeared destined to be the latest Georgetown big to blossom much like his head coach and former Hoyas legend Patrick Ewing. However, shortly after being bounced from the NCAA tournament, Wahab shockingly entered the transfer portal.
He ultimately transferred up the road to the Maryland Terrapins to play under Mark Turgeon. With the addition of Rhode Island-transfer point guard Fatts Russell, the Terrapins had high expectations entering the season.
But the wheels fell off as Maryland underperformed. So did Wahab. After scoring 35 points and collecting 21 rebounds in Maryland’s first two games against Quinnipiac and George Washington, Wahab has struggled to remotely resemble his play towards the end of his Georgetown run.
Then Turgeon resigned after just eight games into the season.
The coaching change has affected him greatly. In Turgeon’s last game, Wahab had 18 points and seven rebounds in 25 minutes in a loss to Virginia Tech. His first game under Manning seemed business as usual.
Wahab played a season-high 28 minutes. But, he only managed seven points and four rebounds, shooting 1-of-5 from the field. His minutes have staggered and his play has been subpar since.
In a Jan. 6 loss to Illinois, Wahab fouled out in 10 minutes of play while going scoreless. He didn’t fare better in the next two games, scoring a combined eight points with nine rebounds. Maryland stumbled to a 1-3 record in Big Ten conference play.
Manning seemingly had enough. In Saturday’s loss to Rutgers, freshman big Julian Reese started in place of Wahab.
Wahab played 14 minutes off the bench. He finished his third consecutive game with four points. He took only two shots in the game, collecting four rebounds and two blocks. But he also had four turnovers.
Last season, he started 25 of 26 games for Georgetown. He averaged 12.7 points and 8.2 rebounds. Those numbers and season seemed to belong to another player named Qudus Wahab. Because it’s not the same player Maryland got.
In 17 games this season, Wahab is averaging 8.4 points and 6.5 rebounds. He’s falling out of favor with Manning. He’s fallen from grace.
What will it take for Wahab to get back in favor? Of course consistency. He’ll need the ability to complement his two guards Eric Ayala and Fatts Russell.
This season Wahab has been a liability on offense. Additionally, he’s been an open door on the defensive end. His struggles beg the question, did Wahab make a huge mistake leaving Ewing and Georgetown?
The answer thus far must be yes.
