Georgetown overwhelms Terps

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - Early in the second half of the Terrapin men's basketball team's game against Georgetown, coach Gary Williams determinedly shouted at a referee until he finally received a technical foul.

Williams was frustrated with a prior intentional foul called on forward Landon Milbourne, and he was frustrated by what was at the time a 20-point Hoyas lead. It would only get worse - even more frustrating moments were on the horizon.

After the Terps' 2008 Old Spice Classic began brilliantly with a dominant win over No. 5 Michigan State, the rest of their Thanksgiving trip to Florida was nothing to write home about. Following a hard-fought loss to No. 9 Gonzaga in the semifinals Friday, the Terps (4-2) were clobbered by No. 21 Georgetown (4-1) 75-48 in the holiday tournament's third place game yesterday.

It was the Terps' worst loss since January 2005, when North Carolina defeated them 109-75, and their worst nonconference loss since a 105-70 beating at the hands of UCLA in the second round of the 2000 NCAA Tournament.

"You have to be ready to play, and I'll take responsibility - we weren't ready to play," Williams said. "[After] we walked out on the court tonight, I thought we were slow; we weren't aggressive; we weren't talking. And when you play a good team, you pay the price for being that way. I was very disappointed."

No players were made available for comment.

Days after dominating one of the nation's top teams, the Terps proved to be inferior to the Hoyas. The much-hyped game between the two Washington area schools, which hadn't met since the 2001 Sweet Sixteen, did not live up to its billing.

Everything the Terps did well in the upset against the Spartans, they failed to do against Georgetown. A once precise offense looked mangled, and their previously tireless defense was worn down.

"Against Michigan State two [games] ago, you'd like to think everything worked really well, your offense and your defense," Williams said. "Tonight, [everything went] probably 180 degrees; nothing worked well for us."

Throughout the tournament, the Terps shot a worse percentage each game and gave up more points than they did in their first game. It all culminated in a gruesome night where the team shot 31.6 percent on just six assists. The Terps had not scored as few as 48 points since a game in 1995 against Massachusetts.

"We didn't do a good job running our offense," Williams plainly stated.

The offense's usual leader, guard Greivis Vasquez, had arguably his worst game in a Terps uniform. Matched up against Hoya defensive stopper Jessie Sapp, Vasquez scored two points on 1-of-7 shooting.

"As the game went on, he started getting less and less talkative, and I wanted to make sure he [didn't start talking] again," said Sapp, one of four Hoyas in double-figures.

The typically loquacious Vasquez was effectively silenced, and only played 25 minutes in the blowout.

"He didn't seem to have his usual quickness," Williams said of his junior star.

Vasquez wasn't getting much help from the rest of his offense, either. Guards Eric Hayes and Adrian Bowie led the Terps with 11 each, but the rest of the team labored to find open looks and missed the few that they had.

Williams fiddled with different rotations - Sean Mosley started instead of Cliff Tucker - but neither that nor any other lineup seemed to get the Terps going.

The Terps started in a man-to-man defense, and the Hoyas exposed the favorable one-on-one matchups. Williams then switched the team to a zone defense, and the Hoyas shot right over it.

The young Terps, who looked particularly sprightful during the first two games of the tournament, had the energy sucked out of them in their poorest showing of the season.

"You can't do anything about the Georgetown game," Williams said afterward. "Now you have to see how the players respond, see how they come into practice tomorrow and go from there."

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