Terps fall to American
Aaron Kraut
Issue date: 12/13/07 Section: Sports
With 10 days to get over their last crushing loss, the Terrapin men's basketball team once again suffered defeat at the hands of a mid-major Saturday.
The Terps (6-6, 0-1 ACC) fell at home to American 67-59, a poor follow-up to a Dec. 12 home loss to Ohio University. The loss marks the first time the Terps have dropped three straight home games since Feb. 1993 and their first 6-6 start since the 1995-96 season.
Another listless first half performance - one in which they went nine minutes without scoring and shot just 20 percent from the floor - led to the Terps first loss against the Eagles (7-5) in 15 matchups. The Eagles out-rebound the Terps 40-33 and scored 24 points off turnovers to spark the upset.
"I'm tired of teams coming in here with a higher intensity level than our team," said coach Gary Williams. "We just didn't play well enough. We don't seem able to put the ball in the basket with any consistency from any one player.
"I'm hurt," Williams admitted.
American was up 12 points with 11:33 left in the second half. The Eagles were led by guard Derrick Mercer and forward Bryce Simon, putting up 18- and 17-point nights respectively.
The Terps closed the deficit to five after sophomore guard Greivis Vasquez nailed his sixth three pointer of the game to make the game 60-55 with just 48 seconds left. But as rampant fouling began, the Terps fell short.
American went on to hit 7 of its next 8 free throws to close out the seven-point win. Only a three-pointer with five seconds remaining by sophomore guard Eric Hayes spared the Terps of a double-digit loss.
"Our defense, for the most part, was decent," said Hayes, who had 16 points and made four three-pointers. "We have to be able to score more than 50 points a game; you're not going to win many games scoring like that."
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steve
posted 12/22/07 @ 11:10 PM EST
News flash mens basketball...you suck...No excuses about it...the terp mens basketball sucks this year...perhaps they will stop walking around campus like they are "the shit" and go back to working on the basics. (Continued…)
Jim
posted 12/23/07 @ 12:28 AM EST
I agree with Steve that these guys are incredibly disappointing. American U!What have you guys been working on since the Ohio U? You were worse tonite! I can remember when it wrenched my guts when the Terps lost. (Continued…)
Sean
posted 12/23/07 @ 1:06 AM EST
I'm sick of the "let's be a hero and block every shot" mentality our big guys have. It's not working! Sure it's fun to see the 3 or 4 great blocks we have every game, but for each of those we give up multiple offensive rebounds and free put backs to the other team. (Continued…)
Mike81
posted 12/23/07 @ 4:13 AM EST
gary the 5, 10, 15 footers and even 20 footers will go in when they are not off balance and desperate....that will bre when you gave some plays and structure to the offense. (Continued…)
No Comment
posted 12/23/07 @ 7:30 AM EST
You can't tell a guy like Gary what's wrong. You have to learn to ignore an ignoramus.
Jim
posted 12/23/07 @ 10:41 AM EST
Now will you people listen to me when I tell you we need a new coach. The coaching is awful and the recruiting is even worst. Gary will take anyone that wants to come to Maryland. (Continued…)
Steve
posted 12/23/07 @ 6:46 PM EST
As an American fan...I'm very happy. Sorry that the good 'ol days are gone, UMD.
Geoff
posted 12/23/07 @ 7:45 PM EST
I agree with the above guys about a new coach. Our recruiting is horrendous. You cannot just put together a bunch of players and expect them to mesh. I cannot think of a recent national champion that's had as much difficulty developing talent as Maryland. (Continued…)
Leslie Lobel
posted 12/24/07 @ 9:58 PM EST
I have been following UMD Basketball since 1971, this is one of the worst teams I have seen. Even in off years we blew out non-conference teams. We'll probably go 0-16 in the ACC. (Continued…)
Paul
posted 12/25/07 @ 1:16 AM EST
I think its really hard to say that the blame falls on Gary. I love the terps and hate the fact that they are doing so badly now. However, everytime a teams slumps people start calling for the coach's head. (Continued…)
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