The University of Maryland Terrapins hosted ACC rival Duke University Wednesday, but highly anticipated hopes for the Terps to win at Comcast Center were dashed as they fell to the Blue Devils 80-62.
The victory gave Duke (20-2, 7-1 ACC) a season sweep of Maryland (14-8, 4-4 ACC).
The Terps upset the Blue Devils last year when playing at home, but Duke’s two stellar players, Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith ran over the Terps on their turf, with both scoring the first 16 points in the second half.
Singler (22 points) and Smith (21 points) were not going to allow Coach K’s team to fall into its first losing streak since 2009 (against UNC and Boston College) after coming off an embarrassing loss to un-ranked St. John’s (93-78) last Sunday.
The first half showed promise for the Terps as they were only down by seven going into the locker room with the score 40-33 after they cut a 13-point lead by drawing fouls on Duke.
They used their defense and rebounds to their advantage to tighten the score with an “and one” then rebounding on two missed free throws by Miles Plumlee and scoring in the paint once more with seconds left in the half. Their strong defense caused six turnovers by Duke, and using big man Jordan Williams, outscored Duke 18-14 in the post.
The first half was a good run, but the Terps were tiring themselves out thinking too much about how their opponent was steps ahead of them and couldn’t seem to catch up to the drive by the Blue Devils who were 50% in all areas on the court; their three-point opportunities were a big factor as they sunk their shots past the arc.
The Terps kept the game intense for the first 10 minutes of the second half, going on a 9-2 run bumping the score 56-49 and giving them a glimpse at a possible comeback, with Williams boxing out under the net and giving him a “double-double” game, with 20 points and 10 rebounds.
But it wouldn’t be enough as Singler scored 11 points in a row, and Coach K’s boys hot shooting kept the Terps at bay and with 5 minutes left, took the game away with Duke up 66-54.
Despite foul trouble early on for Duke, the Terps did not seem to be able to connect on their foul shots (were 16 for 23 on the line with five minutes left) and botched up court opportunities, and gave away the rest of the game to their rivals.
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