It's something that has probably happened in every game in
Cole Field House, but on this Sunday, when Maryland held off
one last push from No. 1 Duke to win, 87-73, the announcer's
words took on an added significance.
"One minute. One minute left to play," boomed the
announcer's voice, and the update prompted a raucous,
cathartic cheer from the majority of the 14,500 who were there
to see if this time, the Maryland Terrapins could get past a
Duke Blue Devils team that has haunted them for years and who
left them reeling with an improbable comeback victory here a
year ago.
This time around, there would be no repeat of the "Gone in
54 seconds" nightmare that saw the Terps blow a 10-point lead
in the final minute AND see a game they should have won fall
through their grasp in overtime.
There would also be no repeat of the disappointment the
Terps endured exactly one month ago, when they led Duke at
halftime in Cameron Indoor Stadium, only to lose focus and
ultimately the game in convincing fashion.
When the Blue Devils managed to cut Maryland's 22-point
lead with 4:40 remaining in the game down to 11 just two and a
half minutes later, the tension was there. But this time
around, the Terrapins were able to hold on, and the fans were
able to use the final 60 seconds of the game as a preamble to
a court-rushing the old arena had not seen since the last time
a No. 1 team -- North Carolina -- fell to the Terps on Jan.
14, 1998.
This time, with Maryland leading by 13 in that final
minute, the fans knew they had their preferred floor general,
junior Steve Blake, still in the game, and had just watched
him play one of the best games of his college career. With
that in mind, the cheering was very understandable.
Blake finished the game with 13 assists (one off of his
career high) and a season-low one turnover. He wasn't the
flashiest player on the court -- that honor went to sophomore
Chris Wilcox, who scored a career-high 23 points and grabbed
11 rebounds -- but he provided the Terps with a solid
defensive effort and the poise needed to knock off a No. 1
team.
"Steve Blake, when you play against guards like that and
handle the ball like Steve did, that gets overlooked sometimes
because of points and rebounds, but that's equally as valuable
to a team's success when you play a very good basketball
team," Maryland Coach Gary Williams said. "You have to role
play in those situations."
"You want a player to be aggressive and you want them to
look down court. We got several breakaways because we did look
down court, but at the same time, there's a fine line there
and I thought Steve really walked that line about being
aggressive yet taking care of the ball."
Blake's most aggressive play of the game will probably be
the play most relished by Maryland fans. With the first half
winding down, Blake stole the ball from an absent-minded Jason
Williams (who was looking to the Duke bench for instructions
from coach Mike Krzyzewski) and made a layup to give Maryland
a 38-29 halftime lead and a surge of momentum the Terps would
need to break an ominous streak. For the first time in the
last six meetings between these two schools, the team with the
lead at the half actually went on to win the game.
"He was dribbling the ball and I saw he took his eye off me
and look back at the coach once before," Blake said. "I told
myself -- because Coach K was yelling at him -- I said if he
does it again, I'm going to go after it. He turned his head
again, so I just took off."
A year ago, Blake had fouled out late in the game after
providing a tremendous effort to help give Maryland that
infamous 10-point lead. ESPN, which was broadcasting that
game, had even named Blake its player of the game. That of
course, was before the collapse.
Being in the game in the final minute this time around "was
good, because I wanted to have control," Blake said. "That
way, nothing could change the game. It would be in my hands to
say if we win or lose. That's what I wanted to be out there
for. That's what I did."
While Blake provided veteran leadership in the back court,
Wilcox proved to be the "answer man" for the Terps in the
front court.
One of the things that has set Duke apart for many years is
their ability to convert small breaks into major positive
momentum. Duke probably had as many of those such
opportunities Sunday as they have during any other game, but
this time around, Maryland rarely -- if ever -- let it get to
them. And often, it was the play of Wilcox that helped
facilitate that mindset.
The most explosive example of this came when Wilcox
appeared out of nowhere to grab and instantly dunk a missed
layup by Blake to make it 53-37 with 14:05 remaining in the
game.
"I've just got a nose for the ball and everywhere the ball
is I'm trying to be there," Wilcox said. "I think that's what
helping me out a lot. I think today I wanted it more."
There's just something about playing in big for Wilcox,
whose previous career high of 19 points came during Maryland's
76-63 victory over then-No. 2 Illinois.
"Hopefully there's a lot more (big games) as the year goes
on," Williams said. "Chris plays. He doesn't do anything
different to get ready for this game, it just turned that way.
When he stays within his game, as a sophomore in college, he's
really good. Like all players, if you go outside your game
against a good team, they usually make you pay for it. Chris
was right on today, he did a good job."
Wilcox also provided the biggest defensive adjustment for
the Terps, as he was assigned to defend Mike Dunleavy, who was
frustrated all game and fouled out with 15 points.
Duke provided more struggles for senior guard Juan Dixon in
the first half, but after the player with his sights set on
the all-time ACC steals record got his first theft of the game
and made a solid defensive play to prevent Duke's Chris Duhon
from scoring an easy basket in the opening minutes of the
second half, Dixon settled into his comfort zone and finished
with 17 points.
"I was too anxious. I missed so many open looks in the
first half," said Dixon, who made just two of six field goals
in the first half and six of eight in the second. "I came in
(to the locker room) and calmed down and talked to Steve
Francis. He said just calm down and keep playing hard, and
Coach Williams said just keep taking your shots. The shots
went down in the second half."
While it didn't make him or the team anxious, Dixon said
the team was annoyed by a "gift" sent to the team before the
game.
"Someone, I guess it was a Duke fan, sent us some flowers
with a sympathy card that said 'good luck, but you guys are
going to lose,' is basically what it said. We're going to send
it back to them. It shows they have no respect for
us."
When asked what kind of flowers they were, Dixon replied,
"I don't know, but they were ugly."
As the Terps look to parlay this victory into an ACC title
and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, they hope to keep
blossoming.
And if they do, things could be very ugly for the
opposition.
NOTE: A sampling of some of the signs waved during
the game:
"Axis of Evil" featuring pictures of Jason Williams, Mike
Krzyzewski and Mike Dunleavy.
"Dunleavy's Dad is Unemployed"
"Hey Boozer, Got Water?"
Gary Williams Postgame Quotes:
Our players did a tremendous job in terms of preparation.
The focus the last two days in practice was what you need to
play against a team that good with those types of players and
their confidence.
It's really hard, because you get a team like that down 20
and you think, 'Well, the game is over,' but you can't look at
a Duke player and see that on their faces. You could never
tell what the score is and that's to their credit. I think to
a man with eight minutes left they thought they could still
win that game. I was trying to impress to my players that we
had to earn the win. We talked all the time in practice the
last couple days about the necessity of 40 minutes. We've
played good minutes against them before and haven't gotten the
wins.
That was important for us, to play the same way for 40
minutes. We gambled a little bit. We tried to take away their
dribble penetration. You can't do it completely, but I thought
we did a good job in terms of getting them to the free throw
line and we were able to go inside. It wasn't easy, but we at
least executed pretty well in terms of what we wanted to do
with our offense.
Steve Blake, when you play against guards like that and
handle the ball like Steve did, that gets overlooked sometimes
because of points and rebounds, but that's equally as valuable
to a team's success when you play a very good basketball team.
You have to role play in those situations.
Chris Wilcox, 7 for 9, if somebody would have talked about
his free-throw shooting in November, I don't think many people
... I had a lot of suggestions on how to teach free throw
shooting. I did what I usually do, I just told Chris to start
making them. That's usually the best way. He's really improved
and that comes from hard work.
Lonny with 10 rebounds, that was just tremendous. We were
able to score, Juan got it going a little bit, which certainly
he can do. They're such a good defensive team that every
possession is a fight. We had to run good offense. Some teams
you get away with not running your best offense, but I thought
we had to every possession today, and we did it for a large
possession of the time today.
He [Blake] turned over the ball once, and I remember the
pass too, he tried to really force one through to people right
in front of the basket. You want a player to be aggressive and
you want them to look downcourt. We got several breakaways
because we did look down court, but at the same time, there's
a fine line there and I thought Steve really walked that line
about being aggressive yet taking care of the ball.
On Blake's steal and basket to end the first
half:
They've done that to us before, so maybe it was our
turn.
On this being the last meeting between Maryland and Duke
at Cole:
We earned the win. This is a win by a good basketball team,
that's what that was today. We're only moving about a half
mile away, so we're still on campus, which is very important.
I know what it felt like coaching. Every pass, forget the
possessions, every pass was big, every defensive stop when you
stop, you're like building something. Each stop is a little
block that goes in there at the end of each game. And you know
you're going to have to do that against a team like Duke. It
was tremendous to see our guys dig it out when they made that
run at the end.
Was this the best game of the year?
The Illinois game was a great game too, but given the
situation certainly it was. There was a lot of pressure on us
to win this game today.
On Wilcox:
Hopefully there's a lot more (big games) as the year goes
on. Chris plays. He doesn't do anything different to get ready
for this game, it just turned that way. When he stays within
his game, as a sophomore in college, he's really good. Like
all players, if you go outside your game against a good team,
they usually make you pay for it. Chris was right on today, he
did a good job.
On the atmosphere at Cole:
They all run together, like beating North Carolina when
they're number one. But Duke is Duke. They've earned it for
the last 14 years being as good as they've been, so that makes
it special.
On Duke three-point shooting trouble:
I've seen them make 20 of 33 against us, so we were
conscious of that, but really we were more conscious of their
dribble penetration. We felt that they got a lot of open
threes off their dribble penetration. When they penetrate, you
have to help on a Williams, say, and when you help off any of
their perimeter players they're all three-point shooters.
Today maybe we didn't have to help as much as we have in the
past.
On Mouton:
Byron was great. He's been great all year. It's been great
to see a guy have his best year his senior year, and Byron has
come to work everyday. I think he really appreciates being a
basketball player, I really do.
On the emotion of the win:
It's great, but at the same time you play for the season,
you don't play for one game. We still have to go to Clemson
and Florida State and have Virginia and Wake Forest here. We
proved today that we could beat Duke, but other than that we
haven't won anything by what happened today. We still have to
focus, and it'll be hard, there's no doubt about it.
On Wilcox on Dunleavy
Chris is big enough and he got some quicks. He's not used
to playing a guy that size with those ball handling skills,
but he's quick enough if he makes a mistake, he can recover. A
couple times, Dunleavy faked the three and Chris went for the
three, other times Dunleavy shot the three and Chris was back
a little bit. At least he knew Chris was coming from
somewhere. Usually only guards can make that play.
On Dixon getting comfortable:
Juan came off a tough game down there. Jones did a great
job on him and I think he was thinking about it. Sometimes,
you think too much on how you're going to get open and things
like that, rather than relying on your offense just to get you
open. I think Juan calmed down a little bit and got into the
offense he was his old self again. He had a big three in the
corner somewhere along the line there.
On protecting home court:
Every game you play here this year is special, because it's
your last year. You want to win each game. The situation today
made it special but you don't put special emphasis on your
players, because what if you lose? You gotta go play again.
It's just 'get ready to play' we'll be ready to play hopefully
Wednesday night against question.
On Steve's number being hung in Cole:
Well Walt Williams (was here) too. Walt's jersey is already
hanging, and we couldn't hang two for him, I told him in the
locker room afterwards. Walt wanted to know where his was, I
told him it was already up there. I told this story already
about Walt, about his loyalty to the program. He could have
transferred immediately after his sophomore year, and gone and
played anywhere. He didn't have to sit out a year and every
top-20 team wanted him, he's a lottery pick. He got his degree
in four years, and has had a very successful pro career.
Steve was here one year, did what he had to do academically
and basketball-wise, and now he's back here getting his degree
because he promised his grandma he'd get his degree. You get
guys like that who are part of your program, you use them. But
the guys have to want to be used to. The work they do with
young players, nobody sees that in the summer time or
whatever. Even just talking to somebody. Because there's so
much respect for a guy that makes the NBA, it's much better
coming from that player than it is from me when you tell them
what they should do. Telling them they should get their
degree, it's much better coming from those
guys.
Sweepstakes