COLLEGE PARK, M.D.—The Maryland Terrapins (8-4) were shocked Wednesday evening by William and Mary (9-2) 83-77, although according to Coach Gary Williams, they shouldn’t have been.

 

“We knew exactly what they were going to bring,” said the Maryland Head Coach. “We knew exactly what they were going to do. We couldn’t stop them, to their credit. And they stopped us.”

In the first ten minutes of the first half neither team seemed to have any trouble finding the bottom of the net as a three pointer by Danny Sumner brought the game to a 15-15 tie. Even though William and Mary had already amassed five turnovers to this point, the Terrapin defense seemed to be unaware of the left wing three as Danny Sumner spotted up repeatedly from that area and eventually gave the Tribe its first lead at 20-17.

The Terrapins were able to keep pace despite their careless three-point defense thanks to one of the most efficient halves by senior guard Greivis Vasquez (9 points, 4 assists).

A Sean Mosley turnaround jumper in the post gave Maryland the lead back at 23-22, but William and Mary would only get more aggressive as the half came to an end and Maryland’s defensive disorganization cost them the lead.

William and Mary was able to repeatedly take advantage of open three-point shots, led by forward Quinn McDowell—who had a game-high 28 points, as they finished shooting 6 for 13 from distance compared to Maryland’s 2 for 13. There were also lapses in Maryland’s post defense as William and Mary were able to exploit late rotations throughout the first half.

“We came out tonight not wanting to get the ball inside,” said Head Coach Gary Williams.“Their defense was good and they sagged but you still can get the ball inside. We didn’t have the patience or toughness to go inside with the basketball and so it turned into a shooting contest and they won. They shot better, in every area.”

As the first half dwindled to a close, so did Maryland’s shooting percentage. As of the ten minute mark, Maryland was shooting 50% from the field, by halftime it was 37.5% as they went ice cold from the field.

William and Mary on the other hand took a 39-30 lead into half on the strength of a 50% field goal percentage.

“They didn’t do a lot of things that we didn’t expect,” said a frustrated Coach Williams “I mean that offense has been around for a while now and you know how it works watching different teams play. But we didn’t react well.”

The second half did not begin nearly as smoothly as the first half did for the Terrapins as they only managed to score eight points halfway through the period. Vasquez was only 1-3 from the field, although he finished with 26 points to lead the Terps, and Maryland’s inside presence was all but absent.

The crowd for the first time all night began to get anxious as William and Mary went up by as much as 11 with less than nine minutes remaining. The Terps fought back but William and Mary was able to outpace them.

Freshman Jordan Williams showed up in the second half, more than doubling his rebound and point totals from the first half. He was able to block or alter many of William and Mary’s close range shots but needed more help from the Maryland guards in stopping penetration.

With about 6:30 remaining in the game Williams was replaced by Dino Gregory. William and Mary immediately took advantage of the cold Gregory on a penetration and dish to forward Marcus Kitts who finished the play on an uncontested dunk to give William and Mary their largest lead of 68-52.

Maryland rallied late to coral the Tribe’s lead to within nine on a steal of an inbound pass by Vasquez and feed to Landon Milbourne for a tomahawk dunk. But the Terps were never able to get any closer as they were plagued by many unlucky tipped balls and questionable calls.

“They got a lot of key rebounds, to their credit. And they were much more aggressive going for loose balls, Coach Williams explained. “We have to figure out some things with our team which I’ll certainly be working on hard as we go along.”

The Terrapins will need to get their paint issues sorted out in a hurry when they face their next opponent, current NCAA champions, the University of North Carolina Tar Heels on Sunday in Greensboro, N.C.

“We've shown the last couple years that we can bounce back from these types of losses,” said senior guard Eric Hayes. “That's exactly what we'll do.