PressBox: Maryland Has One Goal In Miami: Win

Maryland Has One Goal In Miami: Win

By Kevin Heitz

Maryland needs a win. There is simply no other way to slice it.

With two regular-season games remaining, the Terps (18-11, 7-7 ACC) find themselves in seventh place in the ACC standings and on the outside of the tournament bubble. A win tonight in Miami and Saturday against Virginia would breathe some life into the Terps as they head into the conference tournament.

But if you think coach Gary Williams has mentioned the NCAA tournament to his young squad, think again.

"If I thought it would help our team it would come up," Williams said Tuesday during his weekly press conference. "But it doesn't help your team because the way you prepare, the way you get ready to play is to really focus on the team you're playing against and so that has nothing to do with anything.

"Really every year is the same. I'm pretty realistic. You watch, you see what's out there. You're pretty realistic about your team so you know what you have to do and what we have to do is win the next game right now. That's what we have to do."

Miami (17-12, 5-9) is coming off a 65-59 loss at Florida State on Saturday. Despite dropping two straight at home, the Hurricanes are 10-4 at the BankUnited Center. Maryland has not won in Coral Gables since December 2006 and is 7-10 all time against Miami.

"We haven't had a lot of success there but there's no reason for it other than they did a good job against us," Williams said.

Maryland's chances in Miami could well rest on the play of freshman Terrell Stoglin and sophomore Jordan Williams, who have grown into the team's leaders.

Stoglin exploded for 28 points during the Terps' loss to North Carolina, en route to his second-straight ACC Rookie of the Week honor. Williams tied a single-season school record against the Tar Heels with his 22nd double-double of the year (Len Elmore, 1973-74) and is looking to become the first Terp to lead the conference in rebounding since Joe Smith in 1993-94.

"I think compared to where we were in November and December ... I think we're a better team now. Some of the freshmen have proven to be pretty good players. Both Pe'Shon [Howard] and Terrell [Stoglin] have really stepped it up since then.

"Hopefully we can be a good team here for the last regular season week and going into the ACC Tournament."

EAGLES FLY PAST HOKIES

Well, it happened. Fresh off the biggest game in school history, a Saturday night upset of No. 1 Duke, Virginia Tech fell victim to the dreaded big-game letdown, falling to Boston College, 76-61.

Reggie Jackson scored 20 points and Corey Raji added 19 for Boston College, who took advantage of a flat team and a sparse crowd (apparently in Blacksburg, if ESPN isn't there, neither are the fans) to climb to sixth place in the standings, a game ahead of Maryland.
Erick Green led Virginia Tech with 21 points. Malcolm Delaney added 17 in the losing effort.

ON TAP TONIGHT

Maryland @ Miami 7 p.m.
North Carolina @ Florida State 7 p.m.
Clemson @ Duke 9 p.m.

Posted March 2, 2011