Win Over Tar Heels 'Opened Up a New Door'
By Marc Carig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Minutes after Maryland center Bambale Osby finished break dancing on the floor of North Carolina's Smith Center, he jogged into the locker room with the rest of his jubilant teammates, who talked openly about reaching the Final Four. That goal was downright preposterous for a Terrapins team that earlier this season lost at home to Ohio University and American. But after knocking off the top-ranked Tar Heels last Saturday, that same team believes anything is possible.
After a turbulent early season, perhaps the most important development of the Terrapins' stunning upset of North Carolina has been a newfound self-assurance that has them convinced they can play with anybody, including tonight's opponent, No. 4 Duke.
"It opened up a new door, a new confidence level," Osby said.
The intensity level in College Park has always been extreme against the Blue Devils, who are just 2-3 at Comcast Center. But the stakes may be even higher as the Terrapins (12-7, 2-2 ACC) look to beat top five opponents in back-to-back games for the first time since 2001, when Final Four-bound Maryland beat Duke and Virginia in consecutive outings.
"Being that they're number [four], that makes it that much bigger," Maryland sophomore guard Eric Hayes said.
Even without a traditional post presence, the Blue Devils (16-1, 4-0) remain the only ACC team undefeated in conference play, beating league foes by 16.3 points per game. Behind an array of talented perimeter scoring threats, Duke has been held under 40 percent shooting just twice this season.
They'll be challenged by a Terrapins team that has won six of its last seven in part because of a stingy defense. Maryland leads the ACC in field goal percentage defense and has held eight straight opponents to less than 40 percent shooting.
"We haven't had any guys slack off defensively, and that's helped us get better in that area," Maryland Coach Gary Williams said. "It's a matter of maturing and realizing that this is the way we have to play this year."
Williams said another factor has been the improvement of an offense that had struggled to score, but managed to put up 82 points in a breakout performance against the Tar Heels.
"Everybody says that you learn a lot from a loss," Williams said. "But I think you learn more from wins. In other words, you want your players to know why you were successful against North Carolina. This is why we scored 82 points against North Carolina. This is what we did on offense and it's concrete, it's done and it worked. Whatever we did, worked."
Meantime, forward James Gist has continued the tear he started immediately after the losses to Ohio and American. In the seven games since, the senior forward has averaged 18 points and nine rebounds, showing indications of perhaps finally emerging as a star player after three seasons in a secondary role.
Osby, in his second season at Maryland as a junior college transfer, has played as if he has been a frontline ACC presence his entire career. Since the season-changing losses, Osby has failed to crack double digits in points only once. He as also made big plays at critical times, tightly guarding North Carolina all-American Tyler Hansbrough before hitting the game-winning shot against the Tar Heels.
The Terrapins have had more success also because guard Greivis Vasquez, the primary ballhandler, has shown more patience in trying to get the ball to his teammates in the post.
"When we're looking inside first, I think that makes Greivis a better player," said Hayes, who said he is close to 100 percent after missing three games because of a sprained ankle. "He doesn't have to work as hard to get his own shots."
While the Terrapins starters have show improvement, Maryland has also received a boost from its reserves, some of whom have finally started carving out steady roles.
Even with freshman center Braxton Dupree reeling after a fast start to the season, fellow freshman Shane Walker and junior Dave Neal have filled in as the Terrapins' top front-court options from the bench. Freshmen Cliff Tucker and Adrian Bowie also benefited from the extra playing time created by Hayes's absence.
Indeed, the deeper rotation has proven to be another positive recent development.
Said Neal, "I can see the vibe in the locker room getting better and better just for every game."
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