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One Terrapin Team Wrecks The ‘Canes While The Other Gets Rattle |
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Written by Adina Ferguson
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Thursday, 11 January 2007 |
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The Maryland Terrapin men’s and women’s basketball teams are like a
set of twins: observe them closely and you can see how different they
really are. As both Terrapin teams went against the Miami Hurricanes
on Wednesday night, the outcome of both games were like a page from
Dr. Jekyll/ Mr. Hyde.
The undefeated and No.1 ranked lady Terps ousted the lady Canes in
Coral Gables, FL 111-53 as six players scored in double figures. Both
Jade Perry and Aurelie Noirez led the team with 19 points each as
they improved to 2-0 in Atlantic Coast Conference play, while handing
the Hurricanes their third conference lost. The No. 2 scoring team in
the nation once again spared no feelings as they shot 57 percent from
the field and outscored the Canes 59-20 by halftime.
Defensively the Terps were unstoppable as Perry grabbed a game-high
14 rebounds, 12 of them coming at their opponent’s expense. Though
the Hurricanes only shot 33 percent from the field, they were led by
junior guard Maurita Reid who had a game-high 24 points as the team
fell to 9-9. Coach Katie Meier’s team became the third team this
season to lose to the Terps by 50 points or more.
Saturday Coach Brenda Frese and company take on No. 3 ranked Duke
Blue Devils in Durham, NC, as they look to defeat the Devils yet once
again. It will be the first meeting between the two ACC powerhouses
since last year’s championship game in Boston where then freshman 5’7
guard Kristi Toliver sent the game into overtime with a three pointer
over 6’7 Alison Bales. After Toliver’s shot the Terps went on to win
the first championship in the program’s history as they defeated
their conference rival 78-75. With all five starters returning for
Maryland, they look forward to beating the Blue Devils in Durham,
something that hasn’t been done in the program’s history.
Just as the men of Maryland slipped their way into the 25th spot of
the Associated Press Poll this week, with Wednesday night’s 63-58
loss to the Miami Hurricanes, they could have just as easily slipped
themselves back out. Unlike the women’s match-up that ended just
minutes before the Terrapins’ ACC home opener in College Park, this
was no blowout as one would expect. Instead it consisted of DJ
Strawberry and company getting out rebounded (55-41), out hustled and
in the end outscored. Terrapin Mike Jones led all scores with 17
points, while Ekene Ibekwe and James Gist were the only two other
Terrapins in double figures with 10 points each.
Only one word could describe the team’s play—sloppy. Late in the
first half they went four minutes and some change without scoring a
field goal, yet managed to only trail 26-21 at halftime. Throughout
the game the Hurricanes seemed to grab any and every rebound in sight
(Dwayne Collins and Brian Asbury combining for 22), and to make
matters worse they held the team to 22 percent field goal shooting,
and the 58 points scored was a season low for Coach Gary Williams and
company. At the 5:30 mark of the game, Williams began to look like
the Kool-Aid man as he boiled over in fury over a no call after
freshman Greivis Vasquez’s missed field goal. A few seconds shortly
thereafter, center Will Bowers fouled out with two points On a
positive note however, the Terps held the ACC’s fifth leading scorer
Baltimore native, Jack McClinton to 3-13 shooting making him work for
all12 points (five coming from the charity stripe).
With the Terps now at 16-3 overall and 0-2 in conference play, one
could only think that their previous blowouts this season were once
again a result of weak scheduling. Saturday the team looks to defeat
Clemson, a team that one can say has the Terps’ number. The Tigers
who this week peaked to 17 in the AP Poll, is the only undefeated
team in men’s Division I basketball. Their previous trip to the
Comcast Center resulted in a 75-71 heartbreaker last March.
Tiger’s freshman forward Trevor Booker is third in the conference in
field goal percentage with 62.5. So if DJ Strawberry (who only scored
seven points) and crew have any hopes of being the first team to beat
Clemson this year, they have to execute Coach Williams’ offense and
defense more effectively.
Williams said after Wednesday’s loss, “You have to rely on what you
practice during the week in games. Especially in league play, you
have to go into the game really flying around and playing
aggressively. When you get out-rebounded by 17 in the first half,
that's a pretty good indication that you're not playing very
aggressively, especially on the defensive end of the court." Will the
men of Garyland show that they deserve to remain in the top 25 or
will they let the loss linger onto the hardwood? To defeat or let go
undefeated that is the question.
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U of Maryland 