SCHIMMEL: Terps still learning that size matters

With the Terrapin men's basketball team holding on for dear life with about a minute to go in its 65-63 loss against Wake Forest last night, Demon Deacon forward James Johnson drove down the right side of the lane with his team up by one.

The long, powerful 6-foot-9 sophomore came up short on his layup attempt, but with nobody on the Terps big enough to get in his way, Johnson followed his shot and tipped in the putback.

The critical basket - which gave the Demon Deacons 20 second-chance points on the night - pushed the Wake Forest lead to three and effectively ended another valiant attempt by the Terps to knock off a top-10 team.

The Demon Deacons had five players 6-foot-9 or taller who played significant minutes. The Terps had none. In a back-and-forth game in which both teams struggled shooting from the field, the difference was around the basket and on the glass.

Wake Forest had 20 second-chance points. The Terps had six.

Wake Forest grabbed 50 total rebounds and 19 offensive boards. The Terps grabbed 32 and 11, respectively.

Wake Forest went to the free throw line 17 times. The Terps went only twice.

The Terps played tough. The Terps played with heart. The Terps almost pulled off the upset.

But Wake Forest was bigger. Wake Forest was more physical.

Wake Forest won the game.

"We're not the biggest team this year, but, you know, you compete," coach Gary Williams said. "A couple times down there, I thought we could have had the ball defensively where we gave them the second shot and they scored. In a game that close, the hustle plays are always big."

During an optimistic stretch late in the second half when it looked like the Terps were going to win, I was all set to write about how - with another statement win - the Terps had just about locked up an NCAA tournament berth despite playing with an undersized frontcourt all season.

I was going to apologize for all the times earlier in the season when I wrote about how they'd never make it to the Big Dance because they weren't big enough or deep enough in the post.

Instead, the Terps were undone by their size disadvantage once again, and they are still fighting for their NCAA tournament lives.

My crow-eating can be temporarily put on hold.

The Terps now face an absolute must-win game Saturday in the regular season finale at Virginia and will probably also need to win at least one game in the ACC tournament to make the field of 65.

It's certainly doable, and the Terps are still in a much better position than they were just two weeks ago. But things are not as certain as they would have been with a huge win last night.

"If we can't come out here and play hard and kind of come back from this tough loss that we had tonight," forward Dave Neal said, "I don't know what it's going to take for a person to play hard."

What's unfortunate for Neal on his Senior Night is that he played his best offensive game as a Terp despite the mismatch, and his team still lost.

He knocked down a career-high five threes and scored a career-high 19 points, shooting mostly from the perimeter.

Neal has stepped up tremendously all season and has put together his best two games back to back. But the way the 6-foot-7 made his impact last night also underscored the Terps' biggest flaw.

They still don't have a true interior scorer, and they still don't have anybody that can reliably defend against an army of big men like Wake Forest's.

"That's what their strength is," Neal said. "We could've done a better job on the boards on both ends, but we didn't."

Like so many extra opportunities the Demon Deacons had last night, the Terps will get a second chance on Saturday.

They're working hard in the post. They just need to finish.

schimmeldbk@gmail.com