Men's basketball's hopes for upset of Panthers end with a clang

NEW YORK – With less than two minutes remaining in the Terrapin men's basketball team's game against No. 4 Pittsburgh last night, forward Jordan Williams rose to the rim for a follow-up dunk over two Pittsburgh defenders.

The sequence that followed — a foul call, a trip to the free-throw line, a clang off the front rim — seemed fitting for the Terps, whose struggles from the line ultimately denied them their upset bid against the Panthers in Madison Square Garden. In their 79-70 loss, their first of the season, the Terps missed their first seven shots from the charity stripe, going without one until early in the second half.

The Terps will face No. 13 Illinois later today in the third-place game of the 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer.

"If we hit our free throws tonight, we win the game," Williams said. "That's the No. 4 team in the country. I think we're No. 3 — you have to believe that going into the game. We were with them. There was no point in the game that people in the crowd thought, ‘Oh, that game is over.'"

Williams (14 points, eight rebounds) missed five of his seven chances, including his first four, as the team finished 14-for-30.

"We've got to make our free throws, but what do you do," coach Gary Williams said. "We work hard at our free throws … [but] we were horrible tonight."

Despite the shooting woes, the Terps held a lead for a good part of the first half until mounting foul problems allowed Pittsburgh to end the first half on an 11-2 run and a four-point lead.

The run continued after halftime, with Pittsburgh extending its lead to double digits as Williams and guard Adrian Bowie each picked up their third foul.

Despite the growing deficit, the Terps found a way to narrow the gap with a 14-2 run punctuated by a three-point play by forward Dino Gregory. They managed to tie it up at the 12:47 mark in the half, but misfires from the free-throw line and errors on the defensive end ensured the Terps would never take the lead.

"We just have to make our free throws, it's just the small stuff," Jordan Williams said. "We have to stop making dumb fouls, stop letting them make it in the last three seconds of the shot clock. We just have to be smarter."

Improved guard play was a bright spot for the Terps, with guard Cliff Tucker leading all scorers with 17 points and the team committing just nine turnovers.

A weakness on the boards, though, did the Terps no favors. Pittsburgh finished with a lopsided 49-28 rebounding advantage, punishing the Terps with a handful of second-chance points that kept the Panthers ahead even as they struggled from deep.

"When they have [heights of] 6-9, 6-10 all over them, we did the best we could," Gary Williams said. "This is a ranked team, this is the fourth-ranked team in the country. It's not some team with a losing record."

A win might not have materialized for the Terps, but a confident showing on a national stage didn't go unnoticed by their coach.

"Going into the game, we felt we could win the game," Williams said. "It's a tough game to play at this point in the year. … I think our guys figured out that when we go hard, we're pretty good."

ceckard@umdbk.com