Terps lack passion in loss

Close home games to start the year against Hampton and Northeastern can be chalked up to a young team still learning and getting acclimated to the season.

Falling to UCLA and Missouri may have just been due to the Terps having less talent.

And while getting beat by middle-of-the-road Virginia Commonwealth and Boston College teams wasn't encouraging, it was understandable.

But last night's game against Ohio? "It's inexcusable," forward James Gist said.

The Terps were outplayed and outhustled for 40 minutes, never holding a lead and never looking like the team they showed they could be in some of their wins this season.

They now have 10 days to let this loss - which guard Greivis Vasquez said he was embarrassed about - to sink in.

"We just didn't come out ready to play, we didn't come out with the intensity we needed to win this game," Gist said. "We lost a game we should have won."

The Terps once again put forth a dismal offensive performance in the first half, scoring just 23 points and going into the locker room down nine.

It didn't get much better in the second half, as the Bobcats led by as many as 17 points. Once again the Terps churned out a furious late-game comeback, which fell just short, and were searching for answers after the game about why they were put in that position in the first place.

"Pretty much all our games, we come out badly," guard Eric Hayes said. "We've got to find a way to break that habit of coming out slow, and get off to quicker starts."

The Terps maintain that they can be an NCAA tournament team, but if they play during their ACC schedule like they played last night, they would be fortunate to earn an NIT bid.

Hayes and Vasquez combined for just four first-half points, and while the frontcourt picked up the scoring load, they failed to grab rebounds at the same rate as Ohio. The Bobcats had a 10-rebound advantage by the end of the game, and had 14 second-chance points compared to the Terps' two.

"Ohio was the more energetic team," head coach Gary Williams said. "You can tell by the rebound totals; they were beating us to the ball. We allowed them to dictate the game."

The Terps have five more nonconference games to figure things out before the ACC schedule begins, and as they proved tonight, none of those nonconference games are gimmes.

The Terps need to bring the same intensity they brought against Illinois each and every game, or their roller-coaster season will have a lot more downs than ups. Unlike Terp teams of the past, this youthful group can't expect to just coast through games on talent alone and rack up wins against what many perceive to be inferior competition.

"We, as a team, have to grow up," Williams said. "There has to be caring, this has to be really important. … This program is probably known for being pretty intense with the way we play, and we weren't able to do that tonight."

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