The Terps took on College of Charleston in the final regional round of the 2K Sports Classic, and came away with a nail biting 75-74 victory. The Terps did not play well, but found a way to pull the game out. C of C could be one of those mid-majors making some bracket racket if they can win the Southern Conference. The Cougars are led by big name coach Bobby Cremins. Cremins is an experienced and successful coach, holding the 1990 Naismith College Coach of the Year to his name. C of C also has 2 excellent seniors guards, in Andrew Goudelock and Donavan Monroe. Cremins had the team ready to play, and the senior leadership of Goudelock and Monroe almost allowed Charleston to score the upset.
Maryland started slow yet again, and C of C took an early advantage. With about 2:30 remaining in the first half, the Cougars were up 9 and looking to take a big lead into the half. However, Gary Williams took a timeout, and the Terps exploded for a 9-0 run going into the half. The 1st half culminated with a nice drive by freshman point guard Pe'shon Howard. He then dished it to junior forward Berend Weijs, who laid it in at the buzzer.
The two teams went back and forth at the beginning of the 2nd half, until the Terps took a 55-50 lead with about 12 minutes left in the game. It looked like the Terps were about to run away with the lead, but coach Cremins called a timeout, and his team responded with a 10-2 run. C of C kept this lead, and was in a position to put the game away. With about 3 and half minutes left, senior point guard Adrian Bowie hit the deck hard, and was knocked out of the game. Pe'shon Howard was forced to take over point guard during crunch time, and in only his 2nd collegiate game.
With about one minute left, Pe'shon hit a clutch jumper to reduce the Charleston lead to 2. After a steal by freshman guard Terrell Stoglin, sophomore center Jordan Williams got fouled, and was at the line shooting 2. Down 74-72, there was all the pressure in the world on Williams. He knocked down the 1st, but the 2nd went begging. Charleston then got the ball with about 50 seconds left, with a chance to put the game out of reach. C of C's Goudelock missed a jumper, and Pe'shon Howard came down with the rebound. The Terps had the ball in a half court situation down 1, with 16 seconds left. The situation was simple, score and you win, don't score and you lose.
Gary drew up a play out of the timeout to get Jordan or senior forward Dino Gregory the ball, but they were very well covered. With about 8 seconds left, Pe'shon decided he had to take matters into his own hands. He was one on one, but could not beat his man. When he couldn't find Jordan or Dino in the post, he stepped back and hit a mid range jumper with 4 seconds left to give Maryland the 75-74 lead. Goudelock's prayer at the buzzer went begging, and the Terps escaped with a victory.
I absolutely love the fact the the MVPe' got more time at the point this game. Pe'shon was on ball a lot, even when him and Bowie were in the game together. Gary gave him his chance, and Howard showed why I call him the MVPe'. Pe'shon backed up his talk on Formspring, and he really showed the Maryland Nation what he is capable of. Howard finished 2 steals, 4 assists, and 14 points.
I cannot overstate how fantastic Jordan Williams played. He really showed that he can carry the scoring load, even with the defense keying in on him. He posted another double-double, scoring 26 points and pulling down 15 rebounds. As a sophomore, I would say Jordan is already Maryland's best player. In order for the Terps to have success this year, they will absolutely need to play through Williams. To state the obvious, he is simply a beast. Unlike Jordan, junior forward Sean Mosley did not have a great game tonight. Mosley was 1 for 5, only contributing 3 points. However, credit is due to C of C's Antwaine Wiggins. He was phenomenal guarding Mosley tonight. He is bigger and longer than Mosley, and his athleticism allowed him to shut down "Sugar Sean".
Adrian Bowie played much better tonight than he did against Seattle. In 28 minutes, Bowie only turned the ball over twice compared to his 7 turnovers in 12 minutes against Seattle. He added 9 points, and as always, was a solid defender. Adrian seemed much more in control today, and I think he really benefited from being moved off ball. He is a very good player, and his skill set would benefit from seeing a lot of minutes at the 2. I hope Gary will start Howard at point guard, and bring Bowie off the bench as an offensive spark. Once Again, senior guard Cliff Tucker played an awesome game. He scored 15 points, and is turning into a very reliable scorer for the Terps. When the game was on the line, Cliff shut down Andrew Goudelock, making Goudelock miss his final 4 shots.
The biggest problem tonight was free throw shooting. The Terps were an embarrassing 5 for 18 from the charity stripe. Its funny, because this team lead the ACC in free throw shooting last year, but now looks like a Jim Boeheim team shooting free throws. I once heard a saying, that goes, "If you won or lost by X amount of points, then you should have won or lost by X + the number of free throws your team missed."
I thought Maryland played better tonight than Monday, but there are still many things this team needs to work on. However, it must be stated that College of Charleston is no cupcake, and is a much better team than Seattle. The Terps turned the ball over 18 times tonight, compared to 29 Monday, but still will need to improve on that number. Some things we learned are that Pe'shon is a great point guard, Bowie is very good off ball, Jordan Williams will be the #1 scoring option this year, and that the Terps really need to improve the free throw shooting. I think this was a great test early in the season, and I still believe that Gary can lead this team to success this year.
The Terps have Maine at home on Sunday, before heading up to MSG for the 2K Sports Classic semi-finals. There, Maryland will take on #4 Pitt, and then the winner/loser of Texas and Illinois.
