Dec. 29, 2010
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COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) -
Jordan Williams had just completed his seventh straight double-double, yet he knew the conversation would soon turn toward the one flaw in his game: his performance at the free throw line.
Williams had 17 points and 11 rebounds, and Maryland got 15 points from Sean Mosley in an 85-62 victory over North Florida on Wednesday night.
Williams' run of double-doubles is the longest by a Maryland player since Joe Smith had seven straight in 1995. But he missed nine of 10 foul shots, and that was clearly on his mind when he sat down for his postgame interview.
"Who's going to be the first to say it?" the sophomore forward said.
After missing his first nine free throws, Williams received a huge cheer from the crowd when he completed a three-point play with 2:29 left. That took a bit of the fun out of his 11th double-double in 13 games.
"Just trying to get better every game is my goal," he said. "We won the game tonight but I missed (nine) free throws. That's the way I look at it. What can I do better? I let my team down by missing those free throws.
"It's real frustrating for me, but I'm going to keep working. I shoot 100 before every game and I'll probably shoot 200 more tonight."
Despite Williams' showing at the line notwithstanding, coach Gary Williams believes the 6-foot-10 star can only get better.
"He needs to continue to work on elements of his game, and foul shooting is one of them," the coach said. "Having said that, he has a tremendous topside. There is no ceiling there. If he continues to work, he has a great shot to get a lot out of the game."
Cliff Tucker scored 14 and freshman Terrell Stoglin added 13 for the Terrapins (9-4). Maryland led 48-40 before Tucker contributed seven points to a 14-0 run that boosted the margin to 22 with 11:50 to go.
Parker Smith led North Florida (4-8) with 21 points and Jerron Granberry had 16. The Ospreys have lost five straight, all by at least 10 points.
North Florida committed 24 turnovers and shot 35 percent from the floor.
"We thought we could go inside," coach Matthew Driscoll said. "Jordan Williams is a tough player and the one thing we knew was that he wouldn't foul. So we thought we could go inside and then also take 3-pointers from the outside."
Good plan, bad results. The Ospreys went 7 for 18 from beyond the arc and scored only 11 baskets in the paint.
North Florida made it interesting at the outset, taking a 14-12 lead on Smith's second 3-pointer in the opening seven minutes. It was 18-all before Mosley and Adrian Bowie made successive layups at the outset of an 11-3 run that enabled the Terrapins to take control.
After Brad Haugabrook scored for the Ospreys, Mosley made a three-point play and banked a runner off the glass to ignite a 10-0 burst that made it 39-23.
The Terrapins settled for a 43-31 halftime lead, which wasn't bad considering they committed 10 turnovers and were 8 for 16 at the foul line.
