LONG-DISTANCE DIFFICULTIES

The Terrapin men's basketball team enjoyed what has often been a rare luxury against Clemson on Jan. 22: a soft shooting touch.

All season, the Terps have struggled when firing outside the painted area. Their inability to hit late free throws or key jump shots has hurt them in several losses to ranked teams.

But following a historic loss to Virginia Tech on Jan. 20, the Terps (12-7, 2-3 ACC) rebounded with one of their best shooting performances of the season in a win against the Tigers.

Tonight, the Terps hope that momentum can travel with them to Charlottesville, Va., for a clash with Virginia (11-8, 2-3).

"We shot great down the stretch in pressure situations," coach Gary Williams said of the Clemson game. "I think that's where we are right now."

Although the Terps rank second in the ACC in overall field-goal percentage, they haven't had much success from the free-throw line or behind the 3-point arc. The Terps rank last in the league in free-throw percentage, at 63 percent, and eighth in 3-point percentage, at 34 percent.

Poor free-throw shooting contributed to early-season losses against Pittsburgh and Boston College, and the Terps have struggled to find a deep threat to stretch opposing defenses. As forward Jordan Williams continues to tally impressive statistics, opponents continue to double- or triple-team him in the post, forcing other Terps to step up.

That problem hit a new low against then-No. 7 Villanova on Jan. 15, when the Terps tried to put the Wildcats away with outside shooting. Instead, a 12-point second-half lead evaporated during a 19-0 Villanova run in which the Terps generally opted to pull up for bad shots instead of looking inside or for the smart play.

"Sometimes we're a little too unselfish trying to make that next pass when we should be shooting the ball," Jordan Williams said last week. "We've worked on that in practice. Instead of pump-faking, just shoot the ball. We really do have good perimeter shooters when they've got a shot."

Guards Cliff Tucker, Adrian Bowie and Terrell Stoglin have all shown the ability to score in stretches but not the consistency to warrant special defensive attention.

Their fortunes changed against Clemson.

"We still had 3s, we took 14 3-pointers, which for this team is probably about right," Williams said. "We made eight of them and shot very well, and a lot of them came from a result of taking the ball towards the basket."

The Terps made more 3-pointers against the Tigers than they had in any of their previous four games. But shooting from outside has never been a priority for Williams — his team ranks last in the ACC and No. 308 in the nation in 3-point attempts. Still, the coach knows the importance of having an established perimeter scorer.

"If you have one guy that's really shooting well, it gets [other] guys open shots," Williams said. "The other team has to worry about that. We need one player from the perimeter we can really go to [whom] they have to guard."

Against Clemson, Tucker and Stoglin combined to shoot 6-for-9 from behind the arc. Add in Tucker's torrid 11-point second-half streak against the Hokies, and the Terps may have solved some of their questions heading into the middle of their conference slate.

Even with the newfound scoring, Williams is quick to keep his team level-headed, especially before an opportunity to win an important road conference game against a rival.

"I told the team after the game that we did a great job of not getting too down after the Virginia Tech game," Williams said. "Now we have to do a good job of not getting too excited after the Clemson game. You have to be tough. That's what we were able to do last year. Hopefully we can do that from now on."

ceckard@umdbk.com