2008 Woodie Awards
Men's basketball dominates North Florida
Andrew Zuckerman
Issue date: 11/12/07 Section: Sports
One moment in the first half, coach Gary Williams was stomping and yelling at his team. The next moment, he was crouched over, looking down, with a hand covering his eyes.
Different emotions, same reason: The Terrapin men's basketball team was rusty and out of sync on offense, leaving Williams more aggravated than usual.
That changed after halftime.
Down two starters, the Terps started out clanking free throws, turning the ball over and bricking jump shots. But they got their act together and put away North Florida with a fine second-half performance en route to a 79-50 victory in the opening round of the CBE Classic.
The Terps will play again tonight at 9, against Hampton, which beat Tulsa last night. The winner will advance to the semifinals in Kansas City, Mo., and will likely face No. 2 UCLA.
"We just weren't in control of the game in the first half," Williams said. "Maybe we would have been better with James [Gist] and Landon [Milbourne] out there, but I never give my team room to feel sorry for themselves. It's easy to find an excuse all the time, so I'd rather just say 'That's the way we played the first half,' and it's 'We.' Whatever went into that, we didn't play very well the first half."
Junior Dave Neal and freshman Cliff Tucker started in place of Gist and Milbourne, who served a one-game suspension. Both played well - Neal had seven points, four rebounds and plenty of hustle plays. Tucker added eight points and seven rebounds.
But at first, the Terps clearly missed Gist and Milbourne, who were both wearing suits and sitting on the end of the bench. Williams used a 10-man rotation in the first half, which included walk-on senior Jason McAlpin.
The Terps only led 30-23 at halftime.
"We were just a little nervous, and the second half we just came out with more emotion," Tucker said.
After 14 first-half turnovers, the Terps only had six in the final 20 minutes. They started the half on a 25-9 run and shot 64.5 percent from the field.
Sophomore Greivis Vasquez led the Terps with 18 points, while Eric Hayes and Bambale Osby each added 15. All four of Osby's field goals came in the second half and three of them were thunderous dunks. But Osby said the team and crowd became more energized after a missed dunk.
"All the anticipation was coming," said Osby, who tried a one-handed tomahawk jam. "Everybody saw me coming, so [the guys on the bench are thinking] 'I'm gonna get up,' and … that just got the emotion flowing out of everybody. It really got the guys fired up."
Whatever works.
zuckermandbk@gmail.com
Different emotions, same reason: The Terrapin men's basketball team was rusty and out of sync on offense, leaving Williams more aggravated than usual.
That changed after halftime.
Down two starters, the Terps started out clanking free throws, turning the ball over and bricking jump shots. But they got their act together and put away North Florida with a fine second-half performance en route to a 79-50 victory in the opening round of the CBE Classic.
The Terps will play again tonight at 9, against Hampton, which beat Tulsa last night. The winner will advance to the semifinals in Kansas City, Mo., and will likely face No. 2 UCLA.
"We just weren't in control of the game in the first half," Williams said. "Maybe we would have been better with James [Gist] and Landon [Milbourne] out there, but I never give my team room to feel sorry for themselves. It's easy to find an excuse all the time, so I'd rather just say 'That's the way we played the first half,' and it's 'We.' Whatever went into that, we didn't play very well the first half."
Junior Dave Neal and freshman Cliff Tucker started in place of Gist and Milbourne, who served a one-game suspension. Both played well - Neal had seven points, four rebounds and plenty of hustle plays. Tucker added eight points and seven rebounds.
But at first, the Terps clearly missed Gist and Milbourne, who were both wearing suits and sitting on the end of the bench. Williams used a 10-man rotation in the first half, which included walk-on senior Jason McAlpin.
The Terps only led 30-23 at halftime.
"We were just a little nervous, and the second half we just came out with more emotion," Tucker said.
After 14 first-half turnovers, the Terps only had six in the final 20 minutes. They started the half on a 25-9 run and shot 64.5 percent from the field.
Sophomore Greivis Vasquez led the Terps with 18 points, while Eric Hayes and Bambale Osby each added 15. All four of Osby's field goals came in the second half and three of them were thunderous dunks. But Osby said the team and crowd became more energized after a missed dunk.
"All the anticipation was coming," said Osby, who tried a one-handed tomahawk jam. "Everybody saw me coming, so [the guys on the bench are thinking] 'I'm gonna get up,' and … that just got the emotion flowing out of everybody. It really got the guys fired up."
Whatever works.
zuckermandbk@gmail.com
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