Sometimes he clapped his hands, and other times, he stomped his foot.
But it didn’t matter how Maryland coach Gary Williams tried to motivate his team — it didn’t work. Williams was drenched in sweat when the final buzzer sounded in his team’s 76-50 victory over Elon on Tuesday night at Comcast Center.
“It was just from a lack of concentration, I think,” junior forward Landon Milbourne said. “Sometimes, we get surprised when we’re left wide open. I don’t think we’ve gotten that many layups from being that wide open. Sometimes, that catches you by surprise.”
Maryland shot 5-of-9 from three-point range, including a perfect three-for-three from junior guard Greivis Vasquez. But the Terrapins’ terrific outside shooting was overshadowed because they missed numerous shots from within a few feet of the basket.
“That’s the game of basketball,” senior forward Dave Neal said. “You don’t make everything. We did a good job and kept shooting when we were open. Even though we missed shots, we kept after it. You can’t get down.”
Maryland (10-2) had three runs of 10-0 or better, including two in a 26-6 stretch in the first half. But then there were the bad stretches — like the one in the first 4:30 of the second half.
After a turnover that led to a pair of Elon free throws, Williams turned away from the play, grabbing his head with both hands and stomping his left foot in frustration.
Elon (4-5) trimmed a 13-point deficit to just seven, but the Terrapins responded and made three consecutive three-pointers to spark a 21-2 run to put the game away and extend their winning streak to six games.
Vasquez scored a game-high 17 points and Milbourne added 14 for the Terrapins, who host Charlotte (5-6) on Saturday afternoon at 4.
“We got caught at the start of the second half not playing very well,” Williams said. “Elon is a steady team that will take advantage if you make mistakes. We had to turn it up a notch. We hit some threes to break it open. That’s not something you can do as the season moves on here, including this Saturday with Charlotte.”
