Another Loss Dashes NCAA Hopes: Florida St. 71, Maryland 60
By Eric Prisbell
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 23, 2006
TALLAHASSEE, Feb. 22 -- With 10 minutes remaining and his team trailing by 18 points, Maryland Coach Gary Williams crossed his arms in the huddle during a timeout and made an impassioned plea to each player.
It did little to change the final outcome, a humbling 71-60 loss to Florida State at the Civic Center on Wednesday. In losing for the sixth time in eight games, Maryland increasingly appears like a team that will miss the NCAA tournament for the second straight season.
Foul trouble and poor shooting proved costly in the first half, when Maryland trailed by 14. The Seminoles simply outplayed Maryland in the second half, leading by as many as 20.
The Terrapins (16-10, 6-7 ACC) must win two of their three remaining regular season games and also a game in the first round of the ACC tournament to give them a reasonable chance to return to the NCAA tournament.
That task is particularly challenging considering two of the games -- Sunday at North Carolina and March 5 at Virginia -- are on the road, where Maryland is 1-6 this season and 3-13 the past two seasons. The lone remaining home game Wednesday looms large because Miami has soundly beaten the Terps the last two meetings.
"We'll find out what we're made of," Williams said. "If you're a team, I don't care what the situation is, you've got to believe you can win the last three. We'll see."
As if Wednesday's loss wasn't bad enough, the Terps received another dose of bad news Tuesday when Virginia scored an unexpected victory against Boston College and moved ahead of Maryland in the standings.
Maryland now sits in eighth place in the ACC, a conference expected to receive no more than five NCAA tournament bids.
"Everyone is counting us out," D.J. Strawberry said, "but until Selection Sunday, we're really not out, so we have to do everything we can to pull out wins."
Florida State, which has won more than six games in the ACC for the first time since the 1992-93 season, improved its case for an at-large berth in the NCAA tournament by improving to 17-7 overall and 7-6 in the conference.
"We have absolutely no room for error," Florida State Coach Leonard Hamilton said.
Maryland threatened to make a serious run early in the second half, when the Terps sliced the deficit to six. But a key play occurred when Florida State's Al Thornton, who scored 27 points and added 12 rebounds, drove at Strawberry, then rose and sank a mid-range basket.
Strawberry picked up the foul, Thornton made the free throw and the gap widened to double digits again.
"They did a really good job at sustaining the lead," said Maryland forward Nik Caner-Medley, who scored a team-high 19 points. "Every time we tried to fight our way back in, they just had counter shots and counter runs, so we never could really go on a run."
Williams employed a 1-3-1 zone for the final five minutes before halftime in an attempt to avoid further foul trouble. Starting forward James Gist picked up two fouls in the first three minutes and sat the rest of the half. Reserve forward Travis Garrison also had two fouls.
Starting guard Mike Jones picked up his third foul of the half when he fouled Isaiah Swann on a three-point attempt. Thirteen seconds later, center Ekene Ibekwe was whistled for his third foul, which seemed to be Maryland's most pressing problem.
For most of the first half, Ibekwe played sound and aggressive defense on Thornton, Florida State's leading scorer this season. Early in the game, Ibekwe broke up a two-on-one fast break when Florida State looked to get the ball to Thornton for a dunk. Later, Thornton tried to drive on Ibekwe but the Maryland junior blocked the shot and kept possession of the ball.
Just as Maryland threatened to tie the game midway through the opening half, Florida State reserve Jerel Allen responded with six straight points -- a three-pointer and a three-point play -- to help give the Seminoles a nine-point advantage that would only grow.
The Terps have struggled the last seven weeks with their perimeter defense but particularly since losing their best defender, Chris McCray, who was ruled academically ineligible Jan. 23. Last night proved no exception, and Florida State made six three-pointers in the first half.
"Well," Williams said, "it has been an interesting year."
View all comments that have been posted about this article.