Terps Take It Inside

With Milbourne as the Anchor, Maryland Muscles Past Michigan: Maryland 75, Michigan 70

On the shot before he changed the course of last night's game, Landon Milbourne missed. He had been doing that a lot lately. While adjusting to a new position, one that often required him to match up against one of the opposing team's biggest and most physical players, Milbourne's stat line -- and more importantly, his confidence -- suffered.

But Milbourne broke out of an extended slump in the second half, and for perhaps the first time this season, the 6-foot-7, 207-pound power forward appeared comfortable in his new position. His second-half resurgence helped lead Maryland to a 75-70 victory over Michigan in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, its fourth straight in the annual interconference battle.

"I think sometimes Landon doesn't know how good he is," Maryland Coach Gary Williams said. "He's got to believe, and sometimes that comes from the other players."

Indeed, one of the keys to Milbourne's breakthrough performance was the support provided him by his teammates. The team's marquee player, junior guard Greivis Vasquez, recovered from a two-point performance during Sunday's loss to Georgetown by tallying 23 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists.

But it was Milbourne who got the Terrapins going late in the game. After missing a jump shot with just less than five minutes remaining and Maryland ahead by only two points, Milbourne blocked a layup attempt by Michigan's DeShawn Sims and then raced downcourt.

He didn't stop until he slammed down an emphatic dunk at the other end. The Terrapins (5-2) eventually increased their lead to eight points, and Michigan never seemed a legitimate threat to overtake them after that.

Milbourne finished with 12 points, eight of them coming after halftime.

"We need Landon to get going for us to win," said sophomore forward Dino Gregory, who finished with seven rebounds. "It's not just Greivis Vasquez or [guard] Eric Hayes; it's Landon, too. If we get Landon going, I know we're going to have a good game."

Senior forward Dave Neal recovered from a poor beginning to his first start of the season to record 12 points and four rebounds, and Gregory provided the Terrapins with a rebounding presence that took some of the pressure off Milbourne. In fact, Maryland won the rebounding battle by a significant margin, 43-26.

One player who was unavailable to help out was usual starter Braxton Dupree. The sophomore center missed class on Monday and sat out last night's game as a result. Along with Neal, who started in place of Dupree, sophomore guard Adrian Bowie also made his first start of the season.

But the lineup changes did little to alter Maryland's identity in the first half. The Terrapins continued to struggle from three-point range -- making just 1 of 11 shots from beyond the arc before the intermission -- and struggled to defend a suddenly hot-shooting Michigan squad that made 42.9 percent of its three-point attempts.

At halftime, Maryland trailed by six to a team that on Saturday required overtime to defeat Savannah State. However, Williams said his confidence never wavered.

"I told 'em we were going to win the game," Williams said of his halftime talk.

"I said somehow we would figure out a way to win the game if -- and it's a big if -- if you guys can come out and just outwork them the first part of the second half."

Utilizing a vigorous full-court press, the Terrapins blitzed Michigan into early turnovers that provided opportunities for transition offense. Maryland began the second half on a 16-3 run.

"We just had to pick the intensity up," Milbourne said.

"It seemed like we were a little un-confident at first, but once we got back in there in the second half, we got our energy up and executed a little bit more. Our shots fell and it worked out."