Gary Williams desperately needs his team to rebound –and he’s not talking about grabbing a missed shot.
Williams is referring to a much larger meaning of the word, as the Terrapins must make their embarrassing, 85-44 loss at Duke a distant memory and produce a much-needed victory over Boston College.
What happened in Durham, N.C., stays in Durham — even if it was the Terrapins’ worst loss in 46 years.
“It can’t,” Williams said when asked if the loss to Duke will carry over in his players’ minds for tonight’s game at 7:30 against the Eagles at Comcast Center. “It can’t — that’s not an option.”
The Terrapins (13-6 overall, 2-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) need a win to climb back to .500 in conference play, which is the first step toward reaching the NCAA Tournament for just the second time in five years. Boston College (15-6, 3-3) has won two straight to move into a tie with Miami (14-5, 3-3) for seventh place –one ahead of Maryland in the 12-team league.
If the Terrapins have any chance to salvage their season, junior guard Greivis Vasquez, who averages a team-high 16.3 points per game, must find his shooting touch. In the past three games, he’s scored just 26 points on 8-of-33 (.242) shooting.
“I think all shooters go through periods in a four-year career where they don’t shoot particularly well,” Williams said. “I think it might be more glaring in Greivis’ case because of his success in the first two years in the program.”
Maryland also features forward Landon Milbourne (12.9 ppg) and guard Adrian Bowie (10.6), but Boston College boasts four averaging at least 10 points a game, led by guard Tyrese Rice (18.4) and forward Joe Trapani (14).
Williams did not make any players available to the media on Monday.
“We talked [at Sunday’s practice] about how we have to play to be our best more than about what happened at Duke,” Williams said. “You have to look at it as if you won that game, you’d have to do the same thing to prepare for Boston College. In terms of preparation, we have to get ready for Boston College. We can’t dwell on Saturday [against Duke].”
Maryland could hardly have picked a worse year to get off to a slow start in conference play. The league is loaded with great teams, including top-ranked Duke (18-1, 5-0). The Blue Devils took over the top spot in The Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN polls, following the paths of North Carolina and Wake Forest earlier this year. It marks the second time three ACC teams have been ranked atop the polls in the same season.
“When you have a chance to be named No. 1, or voted No. 1, any time, it’s a tremendous honor,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “We don’t take it lightly. It’s not something you try to keep winning. You just try to keep improving. It just goes with the territory we’ve been in for a while.”
