The Terrapin men’s basketball team wanted to rebound after last Saturday’s loss to Temple, but Tuesday against North Carolina they did anything but – literally.
In fact, the first thing coach Gary Williams wanted to talk about after his team’s 77-62 loss to the Tar Heels was how his team got out-hustled and out-muscled under the glass.
“Rebounding is probably as important a stat [as any other], not just because of the numbers, but because it shows the attitude of the team,” Williams said. “Defense and rebounding, it’s pretty hard to separate those two. I didn’t think we played well enough on the defensive end of the court, and the rebounding was a big part of that.”
The Terps were out-rebounded 52-34, a lot of which came as second chance put backs for the Tar Heels.
Tar Heel freshman forward Tyler Hansbrough made a living off put backs in the second half, turning his four-point, three-shot first half into 15 points on five offensive rebounds.
“Hansbrough shot and missed, but then he would get his own rebound,” junior center Will Bowers said. “It’s hard to get him when he gets his own rebound.”
Still, it wasn’t the 6-foot, 9-inch Hansbrough who grabbed the most boards, but rather senior forward David Noel. Noel almost doubled his 6.6 season rebounding average, turning in 12 boards on the way to a 19-point night.
“He just wanted it more,” senior forward Travis Garrison said. “It could be a guy that’s 7 feet tall and a guy that’s 6 feet tall, and if the 6-foot guy wants it more, he’ll get it.”
Sophomore James Gist was the leading rebounder for Terps with nine, while junior Mike Jones, senior Nik Caner-Medley and junior D.J. Strawberry each finished with five.
But it was the Terps’ big men who let them down. Bowers and junior Ekene Ibekwe mustered only five rebounds combined.
The Terps had averaged 39.9 rebounds per game entering last night’s contest. Ibekwe averaged over six boards per game. They also typically had more rebounds then their opponents.
“We didn’t play like we wanted to win,” Garrison said. “We were at home, and there’s no doubt they outplayed us tonight.”
Contact reporter Jason Fraley at fraleydbk@gmail.com.