UVa's bubble bursts
Cavaliers are heading to play-in game after road loss
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
March 8, 2004

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Given a chance to play its way into the NCAA tournament, Virginia threw it away literally and figuratively Sunday night at Maryland.

The Cavaliers blew an 11-point second half lead amidst a 25-6 Maryland run that was fueled by countless UVa turnovers and missed shots as the Terrapins notched a 70-61 victory at the Comcast Center.

After leading 34-27 at intermission, back-to-back layups by J.R. Reynolds in the opening minute of the second half vaulted Virginia to a 38-27 advantage. The Cavaliers, however, were unable to sustain the momentum.

“It’s tremendously disappointing. We were up seven at the half and then up 11 in the second half but I knew it was a long way to go,” said Virginia coach Pete Gillen. “The game was in our grasp but it’s a 40-minute game. We stopped playing for a little bit and they took advantage.”

The Cavaliers (16-11, 6-10 ACC) are now relegated to ACC play-in game Thursday night against ninth-seeded Clemson.

Maryland, which has now likely earned an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, improved to 16-11, 7-9 in the ACC. The Terrapins will be the tournament’s sixth seed and face third-seeded Wake Forest on Friday.

Elton Brown led Virginia with 16 points while Devin Smith had 15 and J.R. Reynolds added 14. Virginia’s Todd Billet, instrumental in the Cavaliers winning four of their last five, was 1 for 14 from the floor, 0-10 for the 3-point arc and finished with just two points.

Chris McCray paced the Terrapins with 20 points and five steals. Nik Caner-Medley added 13 and Jamar Smith had 10 and 12 rebounds.

Neither team shot particularly well - 33.9 percent for Virginia and 34.3 percent for Maryland and the two squads combined to make just seven of 42 3-point attempts – but key was rebounding. Maryland had a 52-44 advantage on the boards, including a 24-14 margin on the offensive glass. The Terps also played a certain knack for getting offensive boards off of missed free throws with most also coming a critical junctures.

“That’s terrible. Rebounding is dirty work and we didn’t do enough dirty work. We played hard but we didn’t do the dirty work,” Gillen said. “Twenty four offensive rebounds equals extra shots and possessions for them.”

The most pivotal offensive rebound came with 4:06 remaining and Maryland holding a 58-57 lead. Jamar Smith missed the second of two free throws but John Gilchrist snared the carom and was promptly fouled by Reynolds. Gilchrist made his pair from the line and ultimately pushed the lead to seven, 64-57, with 2:16 remaining.

Virginia managed to cut the lead to 64-61 with 39 seconds left but poor rebounding again plagued the Cavaliers.

Smith again made one of two from the stripe but managed to rebound his own miss after no Virginia player boxed him out.

“We didn’t do our jobs and box out. There was some miscommunication and we didn’t box out the shooter,” Brown said.

Certainly Billet’s shooting touch, or lack there of, played and equal part in the defeat as the critical turnovers and poor rebounding effort.

Compounding matters was the fact that many of Billet’s misses came at crucial times when a trey might have kept momentum with the Cavaliers and away from the Terps.

“He wasn’t in sync. We took him out a few times. He never got going. He’s had a great couple of weeks but he had a tough night. He just couldn’t score,” Gillen said.

Added Billet: “I was trying to be aggressive but the shots just weren’t coming off right.”

Virginia has very much had its sights on the NCAA tournament during the last few weeks as it began its string of victories over three top-15 ranked teams. Now, the Cavaliers find themselves in the play-in game and its likely postseason destination a third-straight trip to the NIT.

“I don’t think we would have clinched an NCAA bid with a win but we would have been right there. I don’t know the answer. A win would have put us on the doorstep. I don’t know what it would take now but we’d have to win at least two in the ACC tournament,” Gillen said.
 

Cavaliers go stone cold in crucial loss


By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
March 8, 2004

COLLEGE PARK, Md.

Virginia crossed the Potomac knocking on the tournament door, and after a series of miracle finishes, one more win could not be ignored.

Maryland, fighting for its own postseason life, wasn’t in the mood to oblige their southern neighbors. When the Cavaliers arrived at the Comcast Center on Sunday night, they found out it wasn’t going to be a stroll in the park.

As they say in Texas, “Fellas, you can come on in, but leave your guns at the door.”

That’s pretty much what happened to Coach Pete Gillen’s Cavs as they could never find their shooting touch on a night when they needed it the most. The result was a 70-61 loss that cooled the Cavaliers’ regular season finish.

Standing at 16-11 overall and 6-10 in the ACC, things didn’t happen the way Virginia had expected. After a series of weekly cliffhangers, the Cavaliers’ freight train sailed off the tracks a little after 10 p.m., leaving them with the ACC’s possible worst scenario.

Play-in game awaits

Virginia is now destined to meet Clemson in Thursday night’s dreaded “play-in” game of the ACC Tournament. The winner gets the opportunity to face Duke early the next day.

Even though both teams couldn’t buy a shot from bonusphere - they were a collective 7 of 42 from beyond the arch -Virginia still played well enough to win. The Cavs finished the first half with a flourish, up by seven (34-27), then opened up just as strong in the second half, opening up an 11-point gap within the first minute.

A little too cozy

But Gillen’s team was enjoying the scenery a bit too much. What followed looked like one of those 30-car pileups on the Beltway as Maryland rallied and responded with a 25-6 over the next 11 minutes.

“It was about which team wanted it more,” said Maryland guard Chris McCray, who scored a career-high 20 points, much of it at key moments of the second half. “They were 6-9. We were 6-9. If they wanted it more on our home court, then Coach [Gary Williams] said he can deal with that.

“But we wanted to win bad and we played our best basketball of the night after that point,” McCray said.

The finish was atypical of Virginia’s effort over the past couple of weeks when the Cavs had claimed ownership of crunch time. The Wahoos couldn’t buy a basket, particularly from 3-point range.

UVa hit 3 of 21 from outside. Todd Billet, the hero of three of those last-minute miracles, couldn’t have thrown a beachball in the ocean had he been standing on the shore.

The Cavalier sharpshooter was 1 of 14 overall and 0h for 10 from long range.

It was a classic case of Satan’s Joy Buzzer. A guy who was hotter than Hades all of a sudden couldn’t find the range.

“I’m glad [Billet] wasn’t able to get off, because if he had a good day, the outcome could have been different,” McCray said.

Had Billet made one-third of his shots, Virginia’s chances would have been a lot better.

But it wasn’t just Billet. And it wasn’t just the shooting. Maryland had an imposing 24 offensive rebound, which explained why the Terps outscored Virginia on second chance points, 24-20.

“It’s tremendously disappointing,” Gillen said after the loss, particularly in the wake of how far his team had come. “When we were up seven, I knew we had a long, long, long way to go. We played too fast. A rat-race game helped Maryland.”

Still, Virginia managed to come back and knot the game at 57-all with 4:29 to play. After that, Maryland regained control as the Cavaliers scored only one basket the rest of the game.

Gillen didn’t think that a win last night would have clinched a bid to the NCAA Tournament, but he believed the Cavs were on the doorstep. Now he thinks the Cavs have to beat Clemson and Duke to catch the eye of the committee.

When they arrive at the Greensboro Coliseum later this week, they better not check their guns at the door.
 

Terps steadiest at end
UVa squanders tournament opportunities
By Doug Doughty
doug.doughty@roanoke.com
981-3129

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Virginia found itself 20 minutes from a probable NCAA tournament bid Sunday night and promptly turned a seven-point lead into an 11-point advantage.

The Cavaliers' biggest problem was, there were 19 minutes remaining.

Virginia stopped taking care of the ball and paid a stiff price, falling to Maryland for the second time this season, 70-61.

The Terps (16-11, 7-9) may have assured themselves a bid to the NCAA tournament, while Virginia (16-11, 6-10) heads to Thursday night's ACC tournament play-in game between the No. 8 and 9 seeds.

"Tremendously disappointing," UVa coach Pete Gillen described the feeling. "We knew there was a long, long way to go, but the game was in our grasp. We've got to win at least two [for an NCAA bid], but you've got to win one before you can win two."

Maryland benefitted from 10 UVa turnovers in a 9:09 span and went on a 25-6 run in taking their biggest lead of the game, 52-44.

Virginia came back to force a 57-57 tie on an inside basket by Elton Brown with 4:26 but that was the closest the Cavaliers came to regaining the lead.

Maryland pulled ahead 58-57 when senior Jamar Smith made one of two free throws with 4:06 left and that quickly became a three-point lead when Terps guard John Gilchrist got the rebound on Smith's miss, was fouled and made two more free throws.

Not blocking out on missed free throws is one of basketball's cardinal sins, but once was not enough for the Cavaliers, who trailed 65-61 when Smith missed the second of two free throws with 38.4 seconds left.

Maryland sophomore Chris McCray got the rebound the second time, was fouled and made two more free throws to finish with a game-high 20 points, including 15 in the second half.

"Luckily, we escaped something similar to that in the last game," said UVa senior Todd Billet, referring to an 84-82 win over Wake Forest when UVa thought the Deacons were in a two-shot situation when it was a one-and-one. "You can't have breakdowns like that at this point of the season."

The Cavaliers got 16 points from Elton Brown, 15 from Devin Smith and 14 from J.R. Reynolds, but there were none of the late-game magic that Billet had produced three times in a 4-1 stretch.

Billet finished 1-for-14 from the field and missed all 10 of his 3-point attempts. He came into the game with 13 3-pointers in 26 attempts over his previous four games.

"He had a tough night but nobody else could make a shot either," said Gillen, whose team was 3-for-21 on 3-pointers and shot 33.9 percent overall.

Virginia, a 10-point underdog, managed to take a 34-27 halftime lead despite making only five of its first 27 shots from the field. To their credit, the Cavaliers played tenacious defense and Maryland actually had a lower field-goal percentage at the half (28.6) than the Cavaliers (32.4).

UVa had a bad habit in the first two months of the season of collapsing at the end of the first half, but, this time, it was the Cavaliers who went on an 8-2 run over the final 2:08 before the break.

 

Cavs watch chance slip by
Maryland comeback stops U.Va.
By Dave Johnson
Daily Press
Published March 8, 2004

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- One of Gary Williams' infamous tongue-lashings at halftime didn't do the trick. Another less than a minute into the second half sure did.

Proving it can be pretty good when it wants to be, Maryland used relentless pressure and muscle to overcome an 11-point deficit in the second half and defeat Virginia 70-61 Sunday night in Comcast Center. With both teams needing a victory to boost their shaky NCAA credentials, the Terrapins solidified their case and the Cavaliers wasted a huge opportunity.

Maryland locked up the sixth seed in this week's ACC tournament and will face No. 3 Wake Forest in a Friday night quarterfinal. Virginia will be No. 8 and will face No. 9 Clemson in Thursday night's play-in game.

After winning their last two games, the Terrapins (16-11, 7-9) appear likely - though not definite - to receive their 11th consecutive NCAA bid. Maryland was on shaky ground before winning at N.C. State on Wednesday.

Virginia (16-11, 6-10), which had defeated three ranked teams since Feb. 14 to reach bubble status, probably is NIT-bound for the third consecutive year. A win might have made things different for the Cavaliers.

"I think we would have been right there," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. "I don't know if we would have clinched it, but it would have put us on the doorstep, yeah. ... It's tremendously disappointing.

"It's a 40-minute game, and we stopped playing for a couple of minutes."

The Cavaliers lost this one on the boards, though the final rebounding totals - Maryland 52, Virginia 44 - don't tell the story. Of the 26 rebounds up for grabs on their end of the floor in the second half, the Terps grabbed 14. Maryland had 15 second-chance points in the second half, two of which were crucial.

"Rebounding is dirty work," Gillen said. "We're not big, so we have to use our bodies to box out."

Shooting hurt Virginia as well. The Cavs hit 33.9 percent from the floor and were 3 of 21 from the 3-point arc. Todd Billet, who hit three game-winning baskets in an 11-day span, was 1 of 14 for the worst shooting night of his career.

"I kept trying to be aggressive," he said. "It just wasn't coming off right."

The Cavaliers led 38-27 early in the second half, fell behind 52-44 at the game's 71/2-minute mark and came back to tie it at 57 with 4:27 to go. But the Terrapins used their rebounding strength to pull through.

Maybe the game's biggest sequence came after Elton Brown's basket had tied it at 57. Jamar Smith went 1-of-2 from the foul line, but 6-foot-3 guard John Gilchrist rebounded the miss. Gilchrist was fouled by J.R. Reynolds and made both of his shots, putting Maryland ahead 60-57.

After Devin Smith missed on a drive, D.J. Strawberry scored to make it a five-point game. Reynolds then missed a 3-point try. Chris McCray went 2-for-2 at the free-throw line to push the lead to seven with 2:16 left.

Virginia led by seven at halftime and, after a quick 4-0 start, went ahead 38-27 with 19:21 remaining.

But after a quick timeout during which Williams, Maryland's 15th-year coach, ranted, the Terrapins responded. Forcing turnovers on one end and converting on the other, Maryland went on a 25-6 run to go from down 11 points to up eight in 11 minutes.

For Virginia, it was a brutal stretch. In 20 possessions, the Cavs committed 10 turnovers and went 2 of 11 from the field. Maryland had nine second-chance points during the run.

It was only the second time this season the Cavs had led at halftime in an ACC game.

Terps dance past Virginia, 70-61
Critcal win bolsters NCAA tournament hopes; McCray leads comeback from eight-point halftime deficit; UM finishes 7-9 in ACC
By David Ginsburg
The Associated Press
Originally published March 7, 2004, 11:38 PM EST
COLLEGE PARK - As the final buzzer sounded, Maryland coach Gary Williams celebrated an important victory by jumping up and down and repeatedly pumping his fist into the air.

That was the only facet of a memorable night that he will look back at with remorse.

Chris McCray scored 15 of his career-high 20 points in the second half to bring Maryland back from a double-digit deficit, and the Terrapins enhanced their odds of returning to the NCAA tournament by beating Virginia 70-61 Sunday night.

It was Maryland's second straight victory in a must-win situation, and Williams couldn't help but celebrate.

"Excuse the end of the game thing, jumping up and down like that," he said later. "I just felt really good because we worked hard. I'm really proud of these guys because they didn't stop, they kept trying."

The victory enabled Maryland to finish in sixth place in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Terrapins (16-11, 7-9) are seeking to extend their school-record run of NCAA tournament appearances to 11.

Maryland will face Wake Forest on Friday night at 9:30 in the ACC tournament.

"It's been a roller coaster up to now," Terrapins guard John Gilchrist said. "We came back and made this happen."

Virginia (16-11, 6-10) must play Clemson on Thursday in the play-in game.

"It's tremendously disappointing," Cavaliers coach Pete Gillen said. "The game was in our grasp."

Virginia led by 11 early in the second half, but the lead dissipated under a barrage of turnovers and missed shots. That left the Cavaliers in a dire situation in terms of qualifying for the NCAA tournament.

"A win tonight would have put us right on the doorstep," Gillen said. "Now we've probably got to win at least two in the ACC tournament."

Elton Brown scored 16 points and Devin Smith had 15 for the Cavaliers, who had won three straight. Todd Billet, whose clutch shooting was instrumental in those three victories, went 1-for-14 from the field _ including 0-for-10 from 3-point range.

"He just wasn't in sync," Gillen said.

After the Cavaliers pulled even at 57, Maryland used a 7-0 run to take control. Jamar Smith made one of two free throws, Gilchrist added a pair at the line and D.J. Strawberry sank a twisting layup before McCray capped the run with two foul shots with 2:16 remaining.

Virginia closed to 64-61 before Smith made a free throw, then missed the second attempt but grabbed the rebound. McCray capped the possession by making two at the line to seal the victory.

Smith, the lone senior on Maryland's roster, had 10 points and 12 rebounds in what was likely his final home game.

Up 34-27 at halftime, the Cavaliers quickly expanded the margin to 11 points on successive baskets by J.R. Reynolds in the opening 40 seconds of the second half.

Maryland called a timeout, then went on an 8-0 run during which Virginia committed four turnovers and missed three shots.

It was 40-38 before Jason Clark scored on a putback to end the Cavaliers' seven-minute run without a basket.

McCray then scored eight points in a 14-2 run that gave Maryland a 52-44 lead with 7:30 left, but Virginia got six points from Smith in a 13-5 surge that tied it with 4:29 to go.

The Terrapins held on.

"To get down by 11 against a team that's really hot right now and come back like that is a great win for our program and our school," Williams said. "We're very pleased with that."

That set the stage for another dramatic finish for the Cavaliers, whose previous three games were decided by a total of seven points.

The first half featured horrid shooting by both teams. With six minutes left, Virginia trailed 18-15 despite shooting just 19 percent (5-for-27) from the field.

The difference over the first 20 minutes was at the foul line, where the Cavaliers went 9-for-9 compared to a 4-for-9 performance by Maryland.

Terps whip Cavs
With loss, U.Va. is relegated to play-in game of ACC tourney
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Mar 8, 2004
MARYLAND 70 VIRGINIA 61

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Maryland is bound for the NCAA men's basketball tournament. Virginia, thanks in large part to its utter inability to block out, is headed to the ACC tourney's play-in game and, in all likelihood, the NIT.

Each team's fate was sealed as the ACC's regular season came to a close last night at Comcast Center. After the Cavaliers pulled even with 4:27 left, Maryland used its domination on the backboards to win going away, 70-61, to the delight of the sellout crowd of 17,950.

Had U.Va. won, a victory in the ACC tourney probably would earned it an invitation to the NCAAs.

"It would have put us right on the doorstep," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said.

Maryland (7-9, 16-11) shot only 34.3 percent from the floor and missed 17 (of 21) 3-point attempts. But the Terrapins grab- ed 24 offensive rebounds, including four off their missed free throws in the second half.

"That's terrible," said Gillen, whose team allowed 24 second-chance points. "Rebounding is hard work, dirty work. We didn't do enough dirty work."

That the Cavaliers shot miserably didn't help their chances, either. Virginia shot 33.9 percent from the floor and missed 18 of 21 attempts from beyond the 3-point arc. Senior guard Todd Billet, in the worst shooting game of his college career, went 0 for 10 on 3-pointers and 1 for 14 overall.

"I'm glad he wasn't able to get off," said Maryland guard Chris McCray, "because if he had a good day, the outcome could have been different."

Billet, the Terps were well aware, had hit game-winning 3-pointers against Georgia Tech, Clemson and Maryland in the regular season's final month.

"We tried to get him going, but he never got going," Gillen said. "He's had a great month, but he just had a tough night tonight, couldn't score."

Of the Terrapins' 52 rebounds - Virginia grabbed 44 - the most important might have come with 4:05 remaining. After Virginia had pulled even with a 13-5 run capped by a field goal by junior center Elton Brown, Maryland senior Jamar Smith went to the line for two shots. He made the first, then missed the second. Terps point guard John Gilchrist, however, soared for the rebound and was fouled.

Virginia was over the 10-foul limit, and Gilchrist drained both free throws. The Cavaliers never got closer than three points thereafter. In the final minute, with Maryland up 65-61, Smith missed another free throw but came up with the rebound.

And so Virginia (6-10, 16-11) saw its three-game winning streak ended and finished tied for seventh with Florida State (6-10, 18-12). FSU wins the tiebreaker, which means U.Va. will meet No. 9 seed Clemson on Thursday night in Greensboro, N.C.

Maryland (7-9, 16-11), which clinched the No. 6 seed, will meet Wake Forest in Friday's final quarterfinal. Wake won a coin flip last night with Georgia Tech for the No. 3 seed.

Brown led U.Va. with 16 points - on 6-for-8 shooting - and grabbed seven rebounds. Junior forward Devin Smith came off the bench to contribute 15 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots, and freshman guard J.R. Reynolds scored 14 points.

Despite shooting only 32.4 percent from the floor, the Cavaliers went into the break ahead 34-27, only the second time in their final 15 regular-season games they led at halftime. Reynolds hit two baskets early in the second half to push Virginia's lead to 38-27. Over the next 11 minutes, however, U.Va. went from 11 up to eight down, melting under the heat of Maryland's pressure defense and the crowd's roar.

"We went up 11, and the game was in our grasp," Gillen said. "But it's a 40-minute game, as I've said many times, and we stopped playing for a couple of minutes."

After Reynolds' basket made it 39-27, more than seven minutes passed before Virginia made another shot from the floor, on a follow by junior forward Jason Clark (six points, 11 rebounds, three steals, two blocks).

"We knew coming in here we could win," Billet said, "and we let it get away at that point. We had a double-digit lead, and we didn't keep pressing on. We let them make their run."

McCray, a sophomore, scored 15 of his game-high 20 points after intermission. Jamar Smith, in his final home game, totaled 10 points, 12 rebounds and two steals.
 

Terps Pick Up Six
Maryland Gets Better Seeding for ACC; Cavs Are 8th: Maryland 70, Virginia 61
By Barry Svrluga
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 8, 2004; Page D01

Late in Maryland's game last night against Virginia -- with the score tied, with the pressure palpable -- the Terrapins faced a choice: Play like you belong in the NCAA tournament for the 11th straight year, or pack it in.

Pretty easy decision.

"Who wants to be remembered as a loser?" point guard John Gilchrist said. "When you lose, you're easily forgotten. We knew what was on the line, and we just made it happen."

It didn't matter how it looked, and once again, it was no thing of beauty.

But it happened. The Terps got 20 points from guard Chris McCray, a superior defensive effort and some clutch free throw shooting in the final minutes to pull out a crucial 70-61 victory in front of 17,950 relieved fans at Comcast Center.

The result pushed the Terps (16-11, 7-9 ACC) -- who have played one of the toughest schedules in the nation -- to the brink of a berth in the NCAAs. And it was damaging for the Cavaliers, who had been the hottest team in the ACC, yet shot just 33.9 percent from the field. Center Elton Brown led the way with 16 points, but guard Todd Billet -- the hero of Virginia's late-season run -- missed all 10 of his three-pointers, and the Cavs frittered away an 11-point second-half lead.

The Terps finished the regular season by winning consecutive ACC games for just the second time all year. More important, they gained the sixth seed in the ACC tournament, and will face third-seeded Wake Forest in the quarterfinals at about 9:30 p.m. Friday in Greensboro, N.C. The Demon Deacons, who finished tied with Georgia Tech for third -- and had the exact same record against every team in the league as the Yellow Jackets -- won a coin flip last night to break the tie. Georgia Tech will be seeded fourth and face fifth-seeded North Carolina in the quarterfinals.

Virginia (16-11, 6-10) lost for just the second time in six games, finished eighth in the ACC, and will face ninth-seeded Clemson in Thursday night's play-in game at the conference tournament. The winner will advance to play top-seeded Duke Friday.

Worse for the Cavaliers, though, is that they likely have to beat Clemson and Duke to fight their way into the NCAA tournament. Virginia doesn't have a quality nonconference win, and was likely doomed by a five-game losing streak last month.

"It's tremendously disappointing," Coach Pete Gillen said.

Considering everything that was at stake -- seeds in the ACC tournament, possible berths in the NCAAs -- the teams were remarkably flat through a sloppy, poor-shooting first half. Virginia missed 22 of its first 27 shots from the field, yet still led 34-27 at the break.

"Halftime," Maryland Coach Gary Williams said, "was interesting."

When Virginia guard J.R. Reynolds opened the second half with consecutive buckets, Williams called time out just 47 seconds into the second half, with the Terps down 38-27.

"I could just see the look," Williams said. "I was just trying to change the body language of our team. We had nothing to say about X-and-O's in that timeout. It was just: We have to put it out there on the court. We're too good to play like that."

So they played better. The Terps went on an 11-2 run, holding Virginia without a field goal for just more than seven minutes. With 10:45 remaining, guard D.J. Strawberry scored from the lane, and Maryland -- finally -- led 44-42. When McCray scored three straight Maryland buckets, the lead grew to 52-44 with 7:30 left. Yet Virginia wouldn't go away and when Brown scored underneath with 4:30 left, the game was tied again, 57-57.

"We just looked at each other," forward Nik Caner-Medley said, "and said, 'We have to stay together.' "

They did. They got aggressive, took the ball inside, and made their free throws. Jamar Smith -- a 43-percent free-throw shooter -- broke the tie with 4:06 left, and Gilchrist snared the rebound of a miss and then hit two. Buckets by Strawberry and McCray made it 64-57 with 2:16 left. And when Virginia pulled to 64-61 with 39 seconds left, Smith hit the first of two free throw attempts with 38 seconds remaining, then grabbed the rebound when he missed the second.

"He hasn't made them all," Williams said, "but he's made some big ones."

With the game finally out of reach -- and with eight of their final 10 free throws through the net -- the Terps celebrated. Williams, who is not given to smiley displays of emotion, jumped up and down repeatedly, his feeling of accomplishment apparent.

"It's just happiness," Gilchrist said. "You're this happy when you work this hard. If someone just gave it to you, you ain't going to be that excited. But we worked our butts off in here."