I wonder what Maryland Terrapins Coach Gary Williams said to his team at halftime.
Trailing by as many 11 points in the first half, the Terps cut the lead down to three points and went gingerly into their locker room with the score at 41-38.
After the break, the stifling Maryland defensive pressure finally yielded positive results, and the tempo of the game turned in their favor for good.
Maryland scored 15 points in a two-minute span and never looked back to beat the UNCC 49ers 85-75, before a vibrant red-clad wearing home crowd.
Junior guard Greivis Vasquez (leader of his squad in all major statistical categories) turned in another dominant performance.
He finished with a game-high 27 points, one of five Maryland players to score in double figures.
“This is good for our team, to be down like we were early, and to see what we can do in that situation because we haven’t been that situation in awhile,” said Williams. “To respond against a good team like we did, I was proud of our guys because we had to work to get ourselves out of a hole.”
Maryland is gearing up for their conference schedule, which is set to begin Jan. 10 against Georgia Tech.
This victory did not come easy, as Maryland failed to execute their “paint defense.”
Early on, Maryland’s mix of defensive rotations was going at a snail’s pace, allowing UNCC to sustain their lead.
Maryland’s slow footed frontcourt players gave the UNCC shooters room to move around the court, and open shots were there to be made.
The 49ers shot a surprising 47.8 percent from beyond the arc for the afternoon.
Entering yesterday’s battle in the beltway, the 49ers had made only 32.5 percent of their three-point attempts.
Facing a blend of defensive schemes that was part man-to-man and part zone, the Terps were being outrebounded which led to easy fast break opportunities.
Someone was going to half to step up and get their hands in the faces of these undaunted 49ers, if Maryland was to avoid a bad loss and the wrath of their salty coach.
Luckily, the break in action took away the 49ers momentum.
Once the Terps mustered pressure in their opponent’s offensive zone, the turnovers started to mount.
And Maryland copied what the 49ers did to them in the first half.
2 comments Last one added 6 months ago — Leave a Comment
Richard DeLancey 6 months ago
Super recap...
How long did it take Williams to sweat through his shirt trailing by 11 to UNCC??
Can MD make a tourney run?
Edit Comment Cancel
Jennifer Johnson 6 months ago
Richard,
Thanks for reading!
It is good that I am replying to you now since UNC has been booted out of the #1 slot by Boston College.
In case you haven't heard they lost 85-78 yesterday.
Good news for the country. Hansborough and crew can be beaten.
Maryland has as good a chance as anyone in the ACC to make a tournament run.
With their ability to score in bunches, due to that sustained press from the frontcourt forces teams into bad turnovers.
If Maryland converts those mistakes into points they build a comfortable lead.
This makes up for their lack of a defensive presence in the paint. Rebounding continues to be a weakness that will be exploited at some point in the season.
Maryland likes to run, so it behooves for them to start their games fast.
11-2 is good and they seem to be happy with their current rotation of players.
Gary is Gary, cursing on the sidelines, never quite erupting like a volcano, but ready to burst with one more bad play.
The turtle power is fierce at home. I put these fans up with the best of the Cameron Crazies and Chapel Hill faithful.
One more game against Morgan St. on Wednesday before they play Georgia Tech on Saturday.
Fear the turtle!
Edit Comment Cancel
Leave a Comment
You must register to post a comment.