After lopsided loss to Duke, Maryland turns its attention toward ACC matchup with Virginia

Terps can’t lament Duke loss with Virginia on deck

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — The Maryland basketball team has no intention of analyzing with great detail its lopsided, humbling loss at Duke.

Under different circumstances, the Terrapins might have scrutinized the tape to fully understand what went wrong during their 77-56 defeat Saturday. Fortunately, the schedule doesn’t allow for such an unproductive exercise.

Maryland returns to the court Monday night to face Virginia in another important Atlantic Coast Conference matchup. The game was postponed from Wednesday night because of snow, leaving both the Terps (16-7, 6-3) and Cavaliers (14-8, 5-4) the prospect of playing twice in the span of three days.

Virginia lost at Virginia Tech 61-55 on Saturday night.

“You’d like more than one day, obviously, but Virginia has one day to get ready, too,” Maryland coach Gary Williams said Sunday. “As long as it’s even, then you just go play. You do what you can do.”

The Terrapins put the loss to Duke in their rearview mirror when the team bus pulled out of Cameron Indoor Stadium. When the team returned home, they ate dinner together before watching the UVA-Virginia Tech game. Williams intended to show the players more tape of the Cavaliers on Sunday before holding a brief afternoon workout.

Williams bristled when asked if the tight schedule was perhaps a blessing because it gave the Terrapins less time to think about a defeat in which they trailed by 15 at halftime and never cut the deficit below double digits.

“We spent no time reviewing (Saturday’s) game,” the coach said. “What’s there to think about? We’ve won two (ACC) games on the road and lost down there just like everybody else has done so far this year. We’re not embarrassed. We’ll be ready to go Monday night.

“That’s the key, not to let one game take you away. They’re good. They’re the eighth-ranked team in the country and I think they’re better than that,” Williams said.

And to that the fact that Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski celebrated his 63rd birthday and was coaching his 1,000th game at Duke on the 70th anniversary of the school’s venerable arena, and it’s no wonder the Terrapins couldn’t recover from a poor start.

“It was a tough day down there,” Williams said. “It wasn’t like walking in there playing a pickup game in the summertime. It was a pretty tough atmosphere.”

Maryland could have taken over first place in the ACC with a win. Instead, the Terps dropped to fourth, a half-game behind Virginia Tech and one game in back of Wake Forest.

Despite the defeat, Williams remains upbeat. Maryland has four games left at Comcast Center, where it is 11-1 this season. And, Saturday’s game notwithstanding, the Terrapins have played well on the road, going 2-3 in the ACC with an overtime loss to Wake Forest.

After enduring the taunts of the Cameron Crazies for two miserable hours, Williams will be glad to have the fans on his side Monday night.

“We’ve played really well on the road. I like the way we’re playing on the road,” Williams said. “One game doesn’t determine how you’ve played on the road in a particular year. But good teams want the home crowd. That can really help you.”

The Terrapins hope that will be the case when they host Duke on March 3. But there is much to accomplish before then.

“I’m proud of what our guys have done this year so far,” Williams said. “Hopefully that will continue.”

(This version CORRECTS Corrects score to 77-56 in 2nd graf.)