ATLANTA – Monday afternoon, the Terrapin men’s basketball players had a surprise waiting for them in the locker room.
A cheap black T-shirt with red font reading “WIN 2” hung in each player’s locker, courtesy of their head coach. After losing at Virginia two days earlier, Gary Williams wanted his team to know exactly what they would need to do at the ACC Tournament in order to get an NCAA Tournament bid.
Friday, in toppling second seeded and No. 8-ranked Wake Forest 75-64, the Terps accomplished that “Win Two” mission at the Georgia Dome. Coupled with Thursday’s win against N.C. State, the win solidifies the Terps’ hopes of receiving an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The Terps head into a Saturday match against No. 9 Duke, the ACC Tournament’s third seed, brimming with confidence after one of their most impressive wins of the season.
“The players knew what to do; [they] executed the plan, and I’m really proud of them,” Williams said in an unusually comfortable post-game press conference for the embattled 20th-year coach.
In a March 3 matchup, the Terps missed an opportunity to upset Wake Forest largely because of a 50-32 Demon Deacons rebounding advantage. The Terps (20-12) knew they’d have to hold their own on the glass this time around, and finished with a 44-40 edge on the boards.
“That was all I was thinking about, all day before the game, just coming in there and doing what I can on the rebounds,” said forward Landon Milbourne, who grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds. “I noticed the last time I played, I wasn’t moving very well. This time I just tried to keep moving my feet and at least go out there and try to get rebounds.”
Five Terps had six or more rebounds, keeping the Demon Deacons from exploiting their size and athleticism advantages by flooding the paint.
In addition, the defense clamped down to hold the Demon Deacons to 29.7 percent shooting. Wake Forest made just 3-of-25 3-pointers on the night.
“We were very aggressive on defense,” Milbourne said. “Any defense that we played – zone, man-to-man – we played it hard, and we forced them to take tough shots. And we got the rebounds to keep them away from getting second shots.”
On the offensive end, Greivis Vasquez again led the way with 22 points and nine assists. The Terps missed their first seven 3-pointers but were still able to hold onto a 36-31 halftime lead thanks to a fast 14-2 start to the second half.
Sean Mosley scored 12, Eric Hayes had 11 on 8-for-8 free throw shooting, and Dave Neal added 10.
The Terps outran a more athletic team, as they got rebounds and immediately pushed the ball in transition for scoring chances.
“On the offensive end we stayed aggressive for the whole 40 minutes, and I think last time we played them and they went to zone, we became passive and didn’t attack the zone,” Neal said. “We knew if we wanted to score we’d have to attack them.”
The Demon Deacons chipped away at the lead, and with Vasquez on the bench with four fouls, they got within eight points with just less than five minutes to play.
Not wanting to blow a second double-digit lead to Wake Forest this season, Williams reinserted Vasquez, who immediately made a play.
The junior guard penetrated the Demon Deacon defense and kicked the ball out to a wide open Dave Neal who calmly knocked down his only 3-pointer of the night.
“I knew our team needed a big play and I’ve made [some] big threes coming down the stretch this season,” Neal said. “I had an open shot and I knew I was off all game, then I hit that one three and it was huge for us…Being the only senior I like to step up in big-time situations.”
Wake Forest couldn’t come back.
With the game clock at five seconds, Vasquez veered toward his sideline and forcefully embraced Williams, a season long goal of making the tournament certainly in both men’s minds.
Yet Vasquez, who had “WIN 2” etched on his sneakers in black sharpie, doesn’t think the Terps are finished winning yet.
“It means a lot for us. We came a long way,” said the junior guard, who announced Wednesday he would test NBA Draft waters after the season. “We happy, but we not satisfied.”
In 2004 when the Terps went from the bubble to winning the ACC Tournament, they had to beat Wake Forest, N.C. State and Duke. After beating the Wolfpack and Demon Deacons, the only obstacle keeping the Terps from the ACC Championship game is a Blue Devils team that has beaten the Terps twice already this year.
The Terps still have to win two more to take the ACC crown in 2009, but they have done enough to constitute a successful trip to Atlanta.
“I just wanted the players to understand that we could be in pretty good shape if we won two,” Williams said about his custom T-shirts. “I just thought [the shirts] might take their mind off some stuff and have some fun with it. That’s as funny as I get.”
Guard Cliff Tucker said the T-shirts were “crappy” but liked the message. Don’t expect to see him wearing his shirt any time soon though.
“Now we won two,” he said, “we’re gonna throw them away and win the whole thing.”
mseligdbk@gmail.com
