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| Terps Overcome
Tigers |
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| By: Chad Capellman |
| Date: December 2, 2001 |
WASHINGTON - A fan had an opportunity to win a
television set if he only made a free throw during a
television timeout in Maryland's game this afternoon against
Princeton in the BB&T Classic. He missed them both, but
was given the prize anyway.
And in addition to the television, the fan also
has an appreciation of what the Terrapins are probably feeling
after coming back from a 13-point halftime deficit to fend off
Princeton, 61-53, at MCI Center.
The win is the fifth
straight for the Terrapins (5-1), who are looking to win their
second consecutive BB&T Classic title, and fourth in seven
years.
“They have their game plan, we have our game
plan," Maryland Coach Gary Williams said. "In the first half
they executed theirs -- we didn’t. We were very impatient. And
Princeton is no secret anymore. It’s been a long time that
they’ve been playing like that and I think our guys have seen
them play enough where we know how they try to play. To their
credit they were able to play the way they wanted to play. We
just didn’t seem to be able to run our offense how we had to,
and to get the ball where we want to get it. We just had no
patience whatsoever in the first half.”
Lonny Baxter,
who scored the Terps' first seven points, led Maryland with 19
points and 12 rebounds. But it was some clutch defense in the
closing minutes by Juan Dixon that saved the Terps from
suffering an embarrassing letdown after an impressive home
victory over second-ranked Illinois earlier this week.
Dixon tied a BB&T Classic record set by Laron
Profit with six steals. Offensively, he made just two of nine
field goal attempts, but converted on all nine of his free
throw attempts to finish with 14 points. Dixon moved into
sixth place on the all-time ACC steals leaders list.
“Juan wins games for us. That’s the best way I can
describe him. Everybody always talks about his scoring ... He
always finds that way to win the game, and today it was his
defense. Tomorrow night it might be his shooting -- you never
know.”
Dixon said the team got an earful at halftime
from Williams, but that it woke them up in the second half.
"We just have to fly around," on defense, Dixon said.
"We have to go all out and leave it all on the court. Because
those guys were executing their offense and they were doing
what they wanted to do on defense."
Thanks largely to
Dixon's perfect free throw shooting, the Terps had their best
free-throw shooting performance of the season, making 67
percent of their shots including going 14-of-18 in the second
half.
"Hopefully we can start winning games at the
free-throw line instead of leaving it all on the court," Dixon
said.
This was the first time Maryland trailed at
halftime this season and the first time it overcame a halftime
deficit of 10 points or more since coming back to beat N.C.
State, 78-73 on Feb. 6, 2000 at Cole Field House.
"It's disappointing because I felt we had control of
the game, for most of the game," said Princeton Coach John
Thompson III. "Our big guys got in trouble, then we got
tentative defensively. Their post players are terrific, but
what goes unnoticed is that their guards are also terrific
post players. It felt like most of their points came from
within three feet of the basket."
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