Maryland Terrapins fall to Clemson Tigers, 62-53

CLEMSON, S.C. -- Nothing in Maryland's recent stretch of impressive play suggested the Terrapins were susceptible to the type of performance they turned in Sunday night. With that in mind, Coach Gary Williams took a seat at the dais following his team's 62-53 loss at Clemson and spent the first minute of his postgame news conference framing Maryland's showing as an aberration, not a cause for concern.

"Clemson's defense was really good, obviously," Williams said. "We come in leading [the ACC] in every offensive category [in conference play], and we shoot 34 percent for the game, 2 for 10 from the three-point line."

But poor shooting served as just one of the maladies that plagued Maryland at Littlejohn Coliseum. There was inadequate rebounding and abundant turnovers against Clemson's press defense -- "We were leading the league in assist-to-turnover ratio coming into the game," Williams said -- and, in the end, fatigue.

"When you fight back from behind and get caught up, it takes a lot out of you, catching up sometimes," Williams said. "We just couldn't put it away when we had the opportunities."

Largely by executing a stifling brand of press defense of its own, Maryland (14-6, 4-2) briefly took the lead more than midway through the second half. But the Terrapins continuously were reminded that what they had been in recent weeks -- nearly flawless -- was not what they were Sunday night.

In its previous three conference games, Maryland had shot 51.2 percent from the field and 50 percent from three-point range, and the Terrapins had claimed three ACC wins by an average margin of 20.7 points.

Against Clemson (16-6, 4-4), Maryland shot 34.6 percent from the field, 20 percent from three-point range and -- most crucially -- lost. The defeat stems the momentum the Terrapins built over the past month, though, as senior guard Eric Hayes noted, "it's not going to be the end of the world for us."

Maryland and Clemson spent much of the first half breaking each other's press defenses and then doing exactly what squads are not supposed to do against such schemes once they cross midcourt -- take the first open look.

Clemson jumped out to a nine-point lead less than three minutes after tip-off. Sophomore guard Andre Young orchestrated the Tigers' fast break in place of regular starter Demontez Stitt, who missed his second consecutive game with a sprained left foot he suffered two weeks ago. On Saturday, Williams lauded Stitt as Clemson's "best presser," but the Tigers' defense discombobulated the Terrapins at the outset with Stitt dressed in street clothes.

"We were breaking the press, but we were just making bad decisions once we got out of the press," said Hayes, who finished with 11 points and five turnovers. "We were getting two-on-ones, three-on-twos and just making bad decisions and trying to force passes that weren't there. They only scored 29 points in the first half; I think we just couldn't find a way to score in the first half."

The game remained close until the end in large part because neither team proved capable of securing the ball for an extended period of time. Maryland and Clemson combined to commit 47 turnovers Sunday night. The Terrapins' 26 turnovers were the most they had recorded since February 2006.

Clemson shot 31.9 percent, which Williams clutched as a bright spot in an otherwise uncharacteristic performance for his squad. The Tigers had not shot that poorly from the field and won since March 1997.

"Even though they scored more in the second half, we got all the big stops and we came up with all the big rebounds and all the big blocks," Clemson Coach Oliver Purnell said. "And we preserved the win."

Senior guard Greivis Vasquez finished with 10 points, 2 assists and 9 turnovers. Senior forward Landon Milbourne, who had scored in double digits in nine consecutive games, tallied three points.

Freshman forward Jordan Williams registered 13 points and 13 rebounds, but such a strong individual performance did not make swallowing Sunday's primary lesson any easier.

"Turnovers hurt," Jordan Williams said. "We had a slow first half. We average, like, 80 points a game, and we had 22 points in the first half. It's not how we play. It's frustrating because it was a lot of stupid turnovers. A whole bunch of small stuff caused a big problem."