COLLEGE PARK, M.D. - Before Saturday's game, Maryland (13-5, 3-1) sat in second place in the ACC but was still looking for a performance that would turn heads nationally. NC State (13-7, 2-4) came into Comcast Center Saturday with convincing wins over ranked ACC teams, Florida State and Duke but looking to stabilize its current up and down month of January which consists of alternating wins and losses.

 

The stage for Maryland was set. A rowdy, sell out crowd of 17,950 were in attendance. Coach Gary Williams' 1,000th career game was being televised nationally. And a chance for Maryland to place its ballot in to be considered one of the nation's top teams--as a spot atop the ACC was theirs to be had--was all wrapped up in Saturday evening's game.

No pressure right?

Well the Terps certainly played like there wasn't any as they controlled the game from tip to garbage time in an 88-64 blowout of the Wolfpack.

"The key for me in today's game is the fact that we really played well together as a team, right from the start," said Coach Williams.

Maryland not only played well as a team, but they played hard as a team. The Terps' first basket was off a Sean Mosley and-one, where the sophomore guard was able to grab an offensive rebound in the midst of NC State's big men, and score on the put-back while getting fouled. Maryland's next two buckets came courtesy of defense and freshman Jordan Williams' two offensive rebounds and put-backs.

"I just feel like they came out and punched us first," said State's junior forward Tracy Smith. "...He's (Williams) a big body. He was solid. As a freshman, I think he did a pretty good job in ACC play. He stepped up big. He got a couple offensive rebounds, defensive rebounds and scored some points, and it helped."

"It helped", Maryland jump out to an early 20-10 lead, a lead that they would only build on.

Maryland's sloppy passes early on offense coupled with State's Javier Gonzalez's (11 first half points) hot three point shooting kept the game close as the Wolfpack were able to creep to within six points of the lead. State shot four for eight in the first half from distance while Maryland managed just two of seven shooting, however Maryland's aggressive play was able to get four different Terps to the free throw line 16 times (13-16) more than making up for the team's poor field goal percentages.

"They were making hard cuts, said NC State head coach Sidney Lowe. "I mean, they were making cuts and hitting us when we were on defense. We didn't hit back the way we should have. As a result, they were more aggressive. (For the game)They had 33 free throws and we had 16 free throws."

Maryland's aggressiveness on offense was simply a symptom of its contagious defensive intensity. Maryland's eighth and ninth forced turnover led to Greivis Vasquez's (19 points) first and only bucket of the first half, followed by junior forward Cliff Tucker's (11 points) fast break layup that put Maryland back up by 10.

NC State had come into Saturday evening's game committing 11 turnovers or less in four of its last five games. By halftime, Maryland had forced them into 10.

"...As a coach, you always would like to think that your defense keys a lot of things that breaks the ball loose," said Coach Williams. "I really believe as a coach, though, that if you are playing aggressive on defense then you are playing aggressive on offense."

Down 41-33 at half, State was still within striking distance to make a run, as through the course of the season, the Wolfpack has tied or outscored its opponent in the second half, 11 out of the last 13 games and is no stranger to putting up 50 points in the second half either.

Unfortunately for the Wolfpack, the second half was when Vazquez decided to be more aggressive offensively as the rest of the Terps brought in the half with sustained hard defense. The Terps went on a 22-8 run to begin the second half as Maryland took the three point hits advantage making 66% of its attempts, while stifling State's (2 of 12).

The Wolfpack came into the game holding opponents to an impressive 40% shooting but Maryland shot 66% in the second half, 53% for the game and held NC State to just 36% shooting.

Maryland had put the game away early in the second half but Vasquez capped off the night as the "violent Venezuelan shimmy" was brought out after a steal and pull up three in transition gave Maryland a 59-41 lead. Garbage time ensued and Maryland ended the game with an 88-64 statement.

"We just wanted to come out and show that we're a team to be reckoned with," said Jordan Williams. "And now we're tied for first in the ACC. We just need to keep this up."

Confident but grounded; top-ranked Maryland has a quick two-day turnaround as they face Miami at home January 26.

"It gives us optimism. We are pretty level-headed this year," said Coach Williams. "We know we've played four (in the ACC) and we have 12 to play, so we just look at Miami and we'll prepare just like we did for NC State. We have two days to get ready, that's not much time, but we can do it. We've done that before with quick turnarounds so we will be ready to go when we play on Tuesday and we'll take it from there.