Played to Perfection

This was the kind of game the Maryland Terrapins must keep on playing if they are to keep on dreaming of winning a national championship. 

This was the kind of game that Dukecannot afford to play once the NCAA tournament begins in March, not when it's one loss and out.

This was the kind of victory that a team as experienced and deep as Marylandcan repeat, and repeat often -- maybe often enough to make it back to the Final Four, maybe further.

This was a textbook example of what has to happen before a team as proficient, as lethal as Duke can be beaten. It takes a lot. But yesterday at Cole Field House, the Terrapins did a lot in winning what surely will be a memorable game (at least for the home side) between two of the three top teams in the nation. In an 87-73 rout of a mightily disliked rival on one of the final days in the historic arena, the Terrapins took it to Duke like Duke usually takes it to its opponents.

The Terrapins harassed the Blue Devils and created havoc, forcing mistakes with constant pressure, stealing the ball (and putting an exclamation point behind a wondrous theft by Steve Blake from all- American Jason Williams, with Blake racing in and sinking a layup with two seconds left in the first half!). The Terrapins made the Blue Devils hang their heads or tilt them upward but, either way, the discouragement and disbelief was large in their eyes. This was nothing if it wasn't an old-fashioned thumping.

Maryland won wire-to-wire. When Duke closed within two points about midway through the first half, Drew Nicholas came off the bench to hit a three-pointer; that's depth. That was Nicholas picking up the team once again, as he did late in a hard victory on Jan. 31 at Virginia.

Yesterday was not just one of those days when everything simply goes wrong for a team. It was a day when Maryland made it all go wrong for the Blue Devils: thwarting them with tough defense, the Devils compounding their problems with uncharacteristically poor shooting from just about every place on the court to fall 25 points behind with 10 minutes to play, and the Terrapins finishing them off in Duke style. The Terrapins and their fans had to wonder if the Blue Devils could sustain a Williams-sparked rally. But no, Maryland stumbled for a brief stretch near the end but never fell. The Terps regained their intensity. They stayed beautifully cool.

Many great games have been played at Cole Field House by many fine Maryland teams. There have been countless moments of joy and satisfaction. But believe this: When Blake made his steal and layup, no louder roar ever sounded, not ever, at Cole.

Maryland fans can savor this game at least for the rest of the month, until the ACC and NCAA tournaments. And more, they can replay all the sweet visions of the afternoon in their minds and let them settle into their memory banks: Chris Wilcox playing his finest game, Blake serving assists all afternoon as if on a platter, Juan Dixon rallying with patented jump shots in the second half, Lonny Baxter joining with Wilcox to dominate the rebounding and Byron Mouton scrapping and chipping away in every department. It added up to a team victory, a resounding team victory.

"I don't think we came ready to play as a unit," said Duke junior Mike Dunleavy, seated disconsolately on a chair outside the team's dressing room. "That's leadership -- my role and Jason's role. We'll improve on that."

No doubt they will. And no doubt their coach, Mike Krzyzewski, will have plenty to do with them improving. "I thought we were ready to play," he said, "but we got a little ahead of ourselves. We got a little bit flustered. You can get away with that if the other team isn't playing well, but Maryland was playing well. They played like a veteran team."

For now, Marylandexorcised the Devils. And it does not have to be temporary. The Terrapins proved yesterday they can dominate inside against the Blue Devils, who have neither the size nor the strength in numbers of Baxter and Wilcox and Mouton and subs Tahj Holden and Ryan Randle. Duke cannot overpower Maryland. "We wanted to go down low and try to take it to Dunleavy," Wilcox said.

Much depends on Wilcox, a lightning force to complement Baxter's steady rumble. If Wilcox can continue to play consistently at a high level, Maryland can become even more of a force late in the season -- and, yes, more of a task for Duke.

Of course, Wilcox is a sophomore. With 9 minutes 26 seconds to play, he was in such a zone of dreamy effectiveness, having just potted a lovely hook shot, that he attempted not just any slam dunk but what he must have imagined as the slam dunk to end all slam dunks, as if he might be awarded double points for presentation. The ball slammed, all right, but it didn't dunk, it rammed down on the iron and ricocheted out of bounds all the way back to midcourt. Even when you're up by 23 on Duke, it's no time to put reverse English on the ball.

"My fault," Wilcox said to Coach Gary Williams.

The Blue Devils may well be able to come back and beat Maryland in the postseason. But not because they're bigger and stronger. They will have to do it with their shooting, their defense, their wits and by changing their offense to combat the way that Maryland changed its defense from the teams' last meeting. During their 99-78 loss on Jan. 17 in Durham, the Terrapins played a tight man-to-man and Duke's perimeter players drove by them for two, two and a foul, or a pass back outside for a three-pointer. Yesterday, Maryland played its man- to-man a bit more loosely. "We tried to take away their dribble penetration, but you can't do that completely," Gary Williams said.

The Blue Devils could not storm past Maryland's outside defenders at will. And in time, their principal option became the three- pointer -- and they died by it. They shot 7 for 33 from beyond the arc, as ineffective in the second half as the first. Marylandplayed them tough; also, Duke missed some open and inviting opportunities.

These teams in all likelihood will meet again -- when the game, or games, will hold more significance. That would be next month in the ACC tournament. Perhaps even April 1, in the national title game. As of yesterday, the Terrapins were playing well enough to dream.

Copyright The Washington Post Company Feb 18, 2002

For Terrapins Fans, Payback and Payoff; Defeat of No. 1 Duke Fulfills Anticipation

University of Maryland senior psychology major Jeremy Rachlin camped out for a full day and night last week to claim his student ticket for yesterday's basketball game at Cole Field House between No. 1 Duke and the No. 3 Terrapins. Then, Rachlin woke up at 5 a.m. to get in line for a seat.

When the doors opened five hours later, however, Rachlin knew it was worth it. He joined 14,500 fans to celebrate the Terrapins' 87- 73 victory in one of the most stirring, important games in the 47- year history of the College Park arena, which will close at the end of the season.

Maryland's victory helped ease the pain of last year's overtime loss to Duke in which the Terrapins blew a 10-point lead with less than a minute remaining in regulation at Cole Field House. Today, there was no such letdown, as the Terrapins -- with upperclassmen Lonny Baxter, Juan Dixon and Steve Blake -- savored every moment. Marylanddominated from beginning to end by absorbing each Duke rally and never permitting its lead to slip under 10 points during the final 15 minutes.

"This is so worth it all," said Rachlin as he celebrated with a mob of other fans who rushed the court following the victory. "I have been to four Maryland and Duke games here. All four years they [the Terrapins] have lost. Last year, they ripped out our hearts. This is awesome. We are going to finish our last season at Cole undefeated. Everything is worth it."

Terrapins sophomore Chris Wilcox, who turned in his best performance of the season by scoring 23 points while keeping Duke's star swingman, Mike Dunleavy, at bay with 15 points, leapt onto the scorer's table above the crowd, pumping his fists in celebration.

"It was a great feeling," said the 6-foot-10 Wilcox. "Our fans are great, and I mean, it was just a great feeling to be out there and to see our fans giving us all the support. I just wanted to give some of it back to them. We tried to get them [the fans] into it; we owed it to them for sleeping outside and waiting in the long lines, so that's what we did. We gave it back to them."

The victory vaulted the Terrapins -- who have never been college basketball's top-ranked team -- to the top of the Atlantic Coast Conference standings, and ensures that they will be either the No. 1 or No. 2 team in the national polls. In the USA Today/ESPN coaches' poll released last night, Kansas moved up to No. 1, followed by Maryland and Duke; the Associated Press media poll will be released today.

"It's hard to compare [all the big wins]," Coach Gary Williams said. "They run together, like the [North] Carolina game when they were number one [1995 and 1998]. Duke is Duke. They have earned it for the last 14 years. As good as they have been, they have been the best college team, so that makes it special. I wish it was the last game of the year."

Williams coached after learning of the death of his father, William Williams, 85, on Saturday. He shared the news with his assistant coaches, but not the players, whose focus he did not want to deter.

"We made a run with six minutes left, but they didn't allow us anything," Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "The outcome was never in doubt. Their team played better than we did."

Following the game, celebrations across campus were orderly, in part because of the game's early start time, increased police presence and a concerted effort Maryland officials have made to improve students' postgame behavior. Some spectators made off-color chants during the game, but there were no incidents like one that occurred last year when the mother of Duke center Carlos Boozer was hit in the head with a bottle.

Campus police spokeswoman Cathy Atwell said there were no incidents reported following the game. There was a gathering of approximately 1,000 fans in the middle of fraternity row, where some students celebrated the victory with a small bonfire. But it was quickly extinguished by firefighters with more than three dozen Maryland state police officers in full body armor, backed up by a black armored vehicle and a police helicopter hovering nearby, keeping watch.

Jeremy Gans, whose fiancee, Lisa Seslowe, paid $520 for a pair of tickets Feb. 7 on the Internet auction site eBay as a surprise Valentine's Day gift, said he had been anticipating the game for nearly a year.

"I've been looking forward to this game since last year's Final Four" when Duke came back from 22 points behind to defeat Marylandin the national semifinals, said Gans, a New York lawyer who grew up in Potomac. "In terms of [the] buildup and living up to the preseason expectations, it was definitely the most hyped-up regular season game that I can remember."

Steve Kellaher, a 29-year-old from Chandler, Ariz., paid $860 for two tickets, and flew into town Saturday afternoon to attend the game with a friend.

"It was an easier ticket for the Super Bowl than it was for this ticket, at least finding one at face value," said Michelle Brus, a 32- year-old Maryland graduate, who flew into the game from St. Louis.

Brus, and friends Julie Blackburn and Troy Jackson -- a running back for Maryland football team in the late 1980s and '90s -- had little success finding tickets, and left shortly after tip-off to watch the game at a nearby restaurant. 

Larry Cohen and his daughter Melissa, of Rockville, had more luck. The 12-year-old and her father staked out the arena more than an hour before game time with a poster that read, "My dad and I need two tickets to see the game."

Somehow, some way, they emerged with a pair of tickets at $29 face value and an afternoon of basketball they won't forget.

Copyright The Washington Post Company Feb 18, 2002