The season's high expectations came crashing down on the University of Massachusetts today.
Using relentless defensive pressure, scintillating shooting and another strong inside performance by Joe Smith, the unheralded Maryland Terrapins shocked the second-seeded Minutemen, 95-87, in the second major upset of the Midwest Regional. On Friday, U.C.L.A., once ranked No. 1 in the nation, was upended by Tulsa, 112-102.
The Terrapins (18-11) will play Michigan (23-7) in the regional semifinals. Juwan Howard scored a career-high 34 points and grabbed 18 rebounds to lead the third-seeded Wolverines over Texas, 84-79.
Maryland, seeded 10th, finished 8-8 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, lost four of its last five games and lost to UMass by 94-80 in December.
This Terrapin team was dramatically different. Smith scored 22 points, Duane Simpkins had a career-best 20, Exree Hipp had 19 and Johnny Rhodes added 10.
"They made the tough shots, made the second shots, scrapped for rebounds and made drives to the basket," said John Calipari, the Massachusetts coach. "They wanted the game worse than us, and it was evident."
Marcus Camby led Massachusetts (28-7) with 32 points. Lou Roe had 17 and Mike Williams had 13, but it wasn't enough.
Throughout the season, Calipari told his team that its formula for winning was to have 20 team assists, have a plus-five advantage in rebounding and hold the other team to 40 percent shooting.
Today, the Minutemen had 21 assists and held a 35-30 rebounding advantage, but they were absolutely helpless on defense. Maryland shot 70 percent in the second half and finished the game at 60 percent.
"We just couldn't guard them," said Roe, a junior forward. "We didn't have that fire today, we didn't play the way we've been playing. We were just playing basketball, we weren't competing. Our offense wasn't that bad, we just couldn't guard them. They played a well-balanced game."
Massachusetts, the Atlantic 10 champions, led by 54-44 with just over 16 minutes left, but Maryland, relying on pressure defense and 3-point shooting, outscored the Minutemen by 15-3 and led 59-57 with 13:29 left after a 3-point shot by Hipp. 'We Never Got Down'
"Even when we were 10 down, we never got down," said Rhodes, Maryland's junior guard. "We were really into this game, we were saying things like, 'Hey, that's O.K., that's O.K., we got this team.' We knew that all we had to do was be patient."
Massachusetts took a 63-61 lead on a basket by Camby, but that was its last offensive gasp. Maryland outscored the Minutemen by 17-7 and led, 78-67, with 7:53 left to play. Massachusetts cut the lead to 84-75 and then 88-81 with 1:04 remaining and then 91-85, but it was too late. The ride was over for Massachusetts and was continuing for the surprising Terrapins.
"I still can't believe this," Rhodes said. "We're in the Sweet 16." Maryland Trailed in First Half
After trailing for most of the first half, Massachusetts outscored Maryland, 13-2, and led, 37-30, with 2:32 left on a 3-pointer by Mike Williams. Keith Booth got Maryland back in sync with a follow off a Rhodes miss to make it 37-32, but Donta Bright nailed a jumper to boost the Minutemen margin back to 7 points. Maryland made one of two foul shots and Massachusetts made a pair to hold a 41-33 lead with 1:45 left.
After a Roe miss, Simpkins made one of two foul shots to pull Maryland to 7 points back, 41-34.
Roe, who scored 10 points in the first half, put Massachusetts up, 43-33. After Rhodes hit a jumper for the Terrapins, Maryland received its first significant break. After Massachusetts lost possession on a walking call, Calipari exploded and was hit with a technical foul with 51 seconds left in the half.
Calipari, who has become known as much for his badgering of officials as his coaching, was close to getting a second technical, but his assistants surrounded him and forced him back to the bench.
Maryland made both technical foul shots and trailed, 43-38, at the half.
