KU basketball transfer David Coit, now at Maryland, scored 43 points in a game Sunday
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- David Coit scored a career-high 43 points, leading Maryland to a 96-73 win.
- Coit hit nine 3-pointers (9-of-15), tying Maryland’s single-game 3-point record.
- He became the first major-college player with multiple 40-point games this season.
David “Diggy” Coit, who averaged 5.1 points a game in 34 appearances last season at Kansas, continued his season-long scoring spree for the Maryland Terrapins on Sunday in College Park, Maryland.
The 5-foot-11, 175-pound Columbus, New Jersey native erupted for a career-high 43 points, one off the school record of 44 set by Ernest Graham in 1978, in the Terps’ 96-73 men’s basketball victory over Penn State.
Coit hit nine 3s in 15 tries, tying Mike Jones’ Maryland single-game 3-point record.
His 43 points were most scored by a player in XFINITY Center history. The building opened in 2002.
“I felt hot. I felt good going into the game. I felt the momentum from the team. My team always gives me that confidence,” said Coit, who also became the first Maryland player to score 30-plus points in back-to-back games since Nik Caner-Medley in 2006.
Coit scored 30 points in an 88-71 loss to USC on Tuesday in California.
He became the first major college player this season with multiple 40-point games and just the second Terp ever to score 40-plus twice in a season. Coit had 41 points versus Mt. Saint Mary in November in College Park. Gene Shue had two 40-point games for Maryland in 1952-53.
“I knew about the (single-game scoring) record, but I wasn’t chasing it. If I had made my free throws, it would have been different,” added Coit. He hit 14 of 23 shots (9-of-15 from 3) and shot 6-for-8 from the line. He also had four assists to one turnover Sunday while playing 40 minutes.
Coit on Sunday scored 30 of his 43 points in the first half, marking his second game this season with 20-plus in the opening half. He outscored his teammates in the first half, 30-26. Maryland led Penn State 56-26 at the break.
Coit’s 30 in the first half marked the most in a first half by any Big Ten player in over five years and the most by any NCAA Division I player this season
“Getting the win and making some shots, it all felt good, but we’re trying to stay humble,” Coit said after Maryland claimed its first victory of the conference season. The Terps are 8-10 overall, 1-6 in league. Penn State is 9-9, 0-7.
“I’m trying not to be result-oriented, but focused on the process,” Coit said.
For the season, Coit is averaging 13.8 points a game on 40.4% shooting. He’s 43-of-112 from 3 for 38.4%.
Last year, in his only season at KU, he averaged 5.1 points on 37.8% shooting. He was 46-of-119 from 3 for 38.7%. He played two seasons at Northern Illinois prior to transferring to KU. He averaged 20.8 points his soph season after averaging 15.5 as a freshman.
“Coit has video-game tendencies,” Maryland coach Buzz Williams said. “He has an ability to score at his size that’s uncommon. He can create space and his ability to make shots off the dribble is rare. It was fun to watch. I’m happy for him. I’m happy for our team, We needed what he did today.
“... He handled it with great humility. He handled it the right way.”
Coit had seemingly endless stats of interest Sunday.
He is only the second Big Ten player with 40 points in multiple games this century (Carsen Edwards of Purdue had three in 2018-19). As far as the building record, his 43 points passed his own 41 points earlier this season for men’s basketball and the 42-point outings of Maryland women’s player Brionna Jones in 2017 and VT’s Elizabeth Kitley in 2022.
He had 43 points, one off the school record, with four minutes left to play.
“I wasn’t chasing (the record). I knew I could have (set it). They would have let me take every shot. But obviously (Penn State was) being physical, was being aggressive. It was getting chippy. I just think it was smarter for me to just not do that,” Coit said.
So he cheered teammate Darius Adams, who hit a 3 on the final possession.
“He’s been around the world and back, and his story should be told at a higher decibel level,” Maryland coach Williams told 247Sports. “His heart is beating for the right things, and his growth in the six months I have known him, off the floor, has probably been at a higher rate than it has been in a long time.”
Of the performance Sunday, Penn State coach Mike Rhodes told 247Sports: “I thought he was going to have 100 points today. When he makes one, he’s hunting the next one. When good players get going early, that’s what happens.”
