COLLEGE PARK, MD - Maryland defeated the Miami Hurricanes Tuesday night, 81-59, in front of a sell out crowd at the Comcast Center in College Park, MD. The win improved the Terps' record to 14-5 overall on the season. More importantly, the win, which marks the fourth straight for the Terps, all by at least 16 points, improved Maryland’s ACC record to 4-1, leaving them alone at the top of the ACC standings.

 

Early on, the Terps showed they were prepared to continue their recent domination of opponents. Six minutes into the first half, the Terps had already built a ten point lead on the Hurricanes. Maryland tried to trap Miami after they inbounded the ball on their first several possessions and the result was four straight turnovers for the Hurricanes.
“We are really focused on defense,” said head coach Gary Williams, who was coaching in his 1,001 game Tuesday night. “We are trying to believe that our defense is what is responsible for our ability to run our offense and get good shots.”

Along with their good defense, good shot selection and crisp ball movement are the other reasons the Terps find themselves shooting a conference best 48.7 percent from the field, including shooting over 50 percent from the field Tuesday night against Miami. The Terps also dished out 19 assists while turning the ball over just 11 times.

While the Terps seemed to constantly push their lead up to ten in the first half, Miami continuously made a shot on their end to cut back into the lead and stay within striking distance. Miami guard James Drew led the Hurricanes with nine points in the first half and helped to keep the Canes from letting the game get away from them. But despite Miami shooting 50 percent from the field and 60 percent from behind the arc, they still trailed by 17 as the first half came to a close. The Hurricanes fell victim to Maryland’s trap and full court press defense and the end result was 17 first half turnovers. Those turnovers allowed Miami to only attempted 16 shots in the first half. The Terps more than doubled the amount of shot attempts the Hurricanes did and also converted more baskets (17) than Miami attempted (16).

“Maryland’s execution was great. They are a really good basketball team,” said Miami’s head coach Frank Haith. “They share the ball, they play together and their execution was outstanding. Gary’s got a good club.”

The second half was more of the same, with the Terps continuing to convert shots. Their lead in the second half climbed as high as 32 as Maryland actually shot better than they did in the first half, making 55 percent of their shots.

Not surprisingly, the Terps finished the game ahead of Miami in every major statistical category.

Greivis Vasquez and Landon Milbourne lead the Terps with 16 points. Vasquez also dished out a game high nine assists while turning the ball over just two times.

Eric Hayes and Sean Mosley also scored in double figures for the Terps, with both players scoring ten points each. Freshman center Jordan Williams also continued his consistent production, putting up eight points and grabbing six rebounds. Williams, along with Dino Gregory, helped to prevent Miami from scoring inside, where the Hurricanes were limited in their scoring opportunities.
“Everybody’s on the same page at the same time, and I think we’re doing a great job,” said Mosley.

Maryland also continued to get good production out of their bench players, with Adrian Bowie and Dino Gregory contributing nine and eight points, respectively.

After starting off the season to a surprising 15-1 start, the Hurricanes lost their forth straight game, dropping their overall record to 15-5 and their conference record to 1-4.

Durand Scott lead all Miami scorers with 13 points.

Maryland’s next game is on the road Sunday against Clemson.