Too little, too late for Terps against Georgia Tech

GREENSBORO, N.C. — The Terrapin men's basketball team showed up here late, and now they are going home early.

Sure, the Terps' shooting was atrocious, and they missed seemingly countless opportunities to complete their comeback and avoid this disappointing upset.

Sure, they ran into an athletic Georgia Tech team that is as good as anybody in the league when on its game.

And sure, they were hurt by forward Jordan Williams' foul trouble, and by questionable officiating all over the court the entire night.

But ultimately, this 69-64 ACC Quarterfinal loss was decided by the Terps' inexplicable inability to get up for a postseason game they should have been able to win from the tip.

After all the work they did the last few weeks to put themselves in a position to do some real damage in this tournament, they squandered it here on Friday night because they weren't ready to play.

That's frustrating to say the least.

"I have to take responsibility for the way we played the first half," coach Gary Williams said. "Whatever we did getting ready for this – obviously we had plenty of time to get ready – we weren't ready emotionally."

Gary can take responsibility all he wants, and maybe he should get some of the blame, but he isn't the one who came out and played like it was November again instead of March.

He didn't rush bad shots, he didn't get outmuscled on the boards or outhustled on the floor, and he wasn't a step slow to get out and put a hand in the face of the Yellow Jacket shooters.

The Terps trailed by as many as 19 points two different times before they were able to turn it on, and it's just unacceptable to take that long in a postseason game to wake up.

"I didn't sense that we weren't ready to play [before the game]," guard Eric Hayes said. "I don't know what it was when we got out there."

It's not like the Terps don't know how to play hard.

It's what won them 13 games in the ACC this season and it carried them through the second half tonight.

After halftime, the Terps ratcheted up the intensity and forced 16 of Georgia Tech's 25 turnovers after the break as they chipped away at the lead.

They made the Yellow Jackets show their youth and were clearly the better team on the court.

Williams said afterward he was proud of the way the Terps battled in the second half, and said the fact the Terps were able to eventually cut the lead to two and have several possessions to tie the game or go ahead "typifies the type of people that are playing for us this year."

But he also said the Terps didn't make any significant tactical adjustments during halftime and the difference in the two halves was "just a matter of effort."

If that's the main reason Miami and N.C. State get to play in semifinal games tomorrow, but the Terps don't, that's infuriating.

"We just gotta figure out whatever we didn't do to get ready for this game and get that out of our system," forward Landon Milbourne said.

The Terps wil still receive a relatively good seed in the NCAA Tournament when the bracket is announced on Sunday, and ultimately what they accomplish beginning next weekend is more important than what they could have done here.

But this was still a disappointing way to go out in a tournament they had their best chance of winning in years.

Hopefully next week they'll remember to show up on time.

schimmel@umdbk.com