EXCUSED ABSENCES?

The attendance figures for the Terrapin men's basketball home games last week against Duke and Wake Forest were officially the same, but the atmospheres inside Comcast Center couldn't have been more different.

Days after a record-setting loss for the Terps (15-8, 5-4 ACC) last Wednesday against No. 5 Duke, open sections of seats dotted the arena for the team's bounce-back victory against the Demon Deacons.

Due in part to the early 1 p.m. tip-off and the middling competition on display — namely, a struggling Wake Forest team against a middle-of-the-pack Terp squad — the vibe surrounding the contest felt more like an early-season nonconference tune-up than a crucial midseason ACC game.

Exactly a week after they played their most anticipated home game of the season, the Terps will today host a lowly Longwood team before a fan base still smarting from several early disappointing losses and perhaps spoiled by last year's nearly perfect home record.

And with increasingly apathetic sentiments building toward the team on the campus, the Terps want to bring the energy back.

"Comcast is one of those places people are scared of coming to play in," guard Pe'Shon Howard said Saturday, "and that's what we're trying to do."

In the aftermath of last week's disappointing defeat to No. 5 Duke, coach Gary Williams told his team that it hasn't used the home crowd well this year. With the loss of charismatic guard Greivis Vasquez, the Terps have navigated this season lacking not only a playmaking guard but also an outwardly emotional leader whose investment in rousing fans was almost always reciprocated.

"That was part of his game. I never told him to do most of the things he did," Williams said. "I can't tell them to get the crowd into the game. It has to be natural."

Williams said Howard, who wears Vasquez's No. 21 jersey, has the potential to connect with a crowd and exhort it to be its loudest in the way his predecessor did.

"He gives off a vibration that he's going to try really hard the next play," Williams said. "Fans see who the tough guys are."

They've also seen the team's struggles firsthand this season, especially lately. The Terps have fallen in conference play to Boston College, Virginia Tech and the Blue Devils inside Comcast Center, where they went 15-1 last season. Their losses to Virginia Tech and Duke set records for margin of defeat in the venue.

Unsurprisingly, some fans feel this season's in-game atmosphere hasn't come close to matching last year's.

"We haven't had any exciting games at home besides Duke," said Zach Landis, a junior government and politics major. "We don't play anyone in the nonconference. I feel like our best nonconference game at home was College of Charleston."

Landis, who said he's been attending games since elementary school, will not be attending tonight's game against the Lancers.

"I have other stuff to do, and I don't feel like going to see them play Longwood," Landis said. "It's going to be like a winter-break game."

With the Duke game already in their rear-view mirror and the team's NCAA Tournament hopes in jeopardy, some fans have already moved on from the team.

"There are some students that only go to basketball games just so they can get tickets to go to the Duke game," said Patrick Nolan, a junior aerospace engineering major. "It's kind of annoying because the team could really use the fan's support."

Without the flashy play of Vasquez leading the Terps to the decisive home wins fans became accustomed to last year, Williams said the Terps need to make their fan base "feel like they're a part of it."

"We just have to play hard, dive on the floor, go after loose balls, leave everything on the court," guard Adrian Bowie said.

With only four regular-season home games remaining this season, the Terps realize time is running out to bring back the droves of fans who last season made Comcast Center one of the toughest places to play in the country — much less get a ticket to.

"Our focus," Howard said, "is to bring Comcast back alive."

ceckard@umdbk.com