Well, Illinois is not ranked and no one considers them a national contender this year.  But last night’s win for the Terps still very much qualifies as a very good win.

For this young and still learning and growing Terps team, it was much needed after the recent losses to UCLA and Missouri.  And it’s never too early to start building that resume for March.

Keep in mind the Terps won this game as their two leading scorers, Greivis Vasquez and James Gist were held to 15 points  under thier usual scoring and combined to make just 7 of 25 shots.

Maryland needed its freshmen class to win this game and got key minutes from Braxton Dupree (the Baltimore product started his second strait game) and Cliff Tucker.  Tucker showed some promised when he scored five strait points in the middle of the second half to break a 44-44 tie.    He finished with 9 points, 5 rebounds in 12 minutes and Maryland never trailed after his personal 5-0 run.

Also, after getting outrebounded by 7 in the first half, Maryland won the boards by 23-17 in the second half vs. a big strong, Big Ten team.  The Terps are proving to be tough in the lane and any player driving to the basket this year vs. the Terps should do so at his own risk.

It all gives Maryland its best win of this young season and something to build on for upcoming tests vs. VCU and Boston College.

By the way, the ACC won the challenge 8-3 over the Big Ten.  Should this even be called a “challenge” any more.  The ACC has won the series all nine years and since 2003, the ACC has won 41 and lost just 16 in this series.  Maybe its time for an ACC-SEC challenge ?

Posted on Thursday, November 29th, 2007 at 11:04 am.
Categories: 1300 News.
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