Byron Mouton transferred to Maryland from Tulane after his sophomore season
where he had a reputation for being a scorer, but not always a team player.
At Maryland he was the ultimate team player who did all the little things to
help the Terps win during the most successful two years in school history.
Byron was a very athletic and emotional player who brought a tremendous amount
of enthusiasm and energy during his time as a Terp.
Mouton is from Rayne,
Louisiana where legend has it he grew up wrestling alligators. He was a
parade all-American in high school and after a drawn out recruiting process
finally picked the local school, Tulane over Kentucky and NC State.
Byron had a good freshman season for Tulane average over 15 points a game
and coming in second to Larry Hughes as the Conference USA rookie of the
year. Despite still being the team's leading scorer, his sophomore year was
more of a struggle and he elected to transfer after the season.
Mouton split the small forward job with Danny Miller for the 2000-2001
season. Both Miller and Mouton struggled at times as they adjusted to
splitting the job. Byron did have some big games including 28 points
against UMES, 20 against Penn and 12 rebounds against Duke. Bryon's biggest
contribution was against George Mason in the first round NCAA tournament
where the Terps struggled to 83-80 victory to avoid a big upset. Mouton
finished with 22 points including 9 for 9 from the foul line in 25 minutes.
This would have been a disastrous loss for the Terps. When discussing the
success of the team during the Dixon / Baxter era, it is often overlooked
how close the Terps came to losing this game and the likely impact it would
of had.
With Danny Miller transferring to Notre Dame, the small forward position
belonged to Mouton for 2001-2002 and he seemed much more comfortable having
the role all to himself. However, early in the year was an emotional time
for Byron as he found out after the UCONN game on December 3, 2001 that his
older brother was murdered in Houston. Mouton rejoined the team prior to
December 9, 2001 game against Detroit. He had a tremendously consistent
ACC season average nearly 14 points a game during ACC play and scoring in
double figures in all eleven games between January 26th and March 8th, all
Terp victories. In the NCAA tournament Bryon had 14 against Kentucky and 12
against Kansas. In the finals against Indiana, Byron had two key out of
bound saves that led to Terp baskets late in the game.
