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Vasquez Double-Double Carries Maryland to Big Win Over UNC in Snow Game, 92-71

It might've been a snowpacalypse, but Maryland won't be complaining about it. Plenty of fans didn't show up to the afternoon game in snowy conditions, but Maryland was able to find a willing student or two to take their seats, and the Comcast Center ended up about 70% full of students despite one of the biggest snowfalls in history. Those that showed up were served a rare delicacy - dismantling North Carolina.

When Greivis Vasquez looks for career-defining games, he'll probably point to matchups against those same Heels. First came a double-double in a two point win over an undefeated, #1 ranked UNC team in Chapel Hill. Then there was the triple-double in the Comcastle last year against the #3 ranked Heels. He added another Tar Heel notch on his belt today, dropping 26 points and 11 assists for yet another double-double, and Maryland rode that super performance on Super Bowl Sunday to a big win, 92-71.

Actually, dismantling might be kind - after a short UNC comeback, the Terps turned on the jets and outplayed UNC in basically every aspect of the game. After getting within 4 a few minutes into the second half, UNC simply disappeared, and Maryland played just as well as they have at any point in the season.

Of course, UNC is really down this year, but as one commenter said in the game thread: "Destroying UNC is destroying UNC." It won't look great on the resume, but it's more than just beating an NIT-bound team at home. It's a name win - maybe just for the fans or morale, but it's UNC, and that's always something.

With that out of the way, I'll caution anyone on taking too much out of this. While its greater meaning may be bigger than beating an NIT team at home, that's precisely what it is on paper. This isn't much different than destroying Miami in terms of talent.

Now, time to bask in the greatness that is this game. Maryland was utterly lights out from deep, mostly thanks to Eric Hayes (4-5) and Vasquez (6-10). Fun fact: they shot better from three (54%) than they did from the field (52%). That won't happen a lot, but it will boost the ol' 3 point shooting percentage.

Vasquez was the undisputed star of the game, but Hayes was fantastic as well. He had 16 points on 6 shots - that's just absurd efficiency. When Hayes is hot, he just can't miss.

Dino Gregory is starting to come on strong, too - despite a few bad plays, his energy is starting to make differences. He had 8 points and 3 boards in 19 minutes, and made some big momentum boosting plays. He still couldn't outside Jordan Williams, though, who continuously showcased his soft yet strong hands. He had 8 and 6 for another great freshman performance, and threw in solid defense against Ed Davis for good measure.

The biggest differences in this game for Maryland were certainly outside shooting and transition play. They shot an absurd % from 3, which we already went over, and scored nearly half their points in transition. When the Terps can get out and run, watch out - they can score at will.

That's not to say the game was perfect: Davis grabbed a ridiculous 16 boards (UNC outrebounded Maryland by one) and MD gave up a few too many second chance points for my taste. But no game can be perfect, and any time you destroy a team made up of McDonald All-Americans, you take it without complaining.

Hope everyone has a good Super Bowl. Duke remains on the horizon, but Maryland has to get through a surprisingly good UVA team first. We'll have more on that in the coming days.

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Recruits

Can anyone list which recruits were at the game?

by word2bigbird on Feb 7, 2010 4:15 PM EST reply actions  

I believe Gibbs and Palsson were the two big ones

Both cancelled. I don’t have a concrete list of names, but I’ve heard that a lot of the ~10 or so that were scheduled couldn’t make it.

by Ben Broman on Feb 7, 2010 4:20 PM EST up reply actions  

sucks

man that hurts. we played amazing. the atmosphere sounded amazing. what a bummer they couldnt experience it.

by word2bigbird on Feb 7, 2010 4:41 PM EST up reply actions  

Comcast was ROCKING!!!

absolutely rocking!!! maybe you couldnt tell on tv but it was absolutely wild. great work from the fans that showed up. my head is pounding.

by churl77 on Feb 7, 2010 4:31 PM EST reply actions  

My head is pounding still, too …. It was really loud and everyone was going nuts! Apparently there were 18,000 students in there.

by terp2k12 on Feb 7, 2010 4:57 PM EST up reply actions  

LOL @ Jay Williams

@RealJayWilliams: What a performance by #Maryland today versus #Carolina. Vasquez once again had a big showing with 26pts and 11 assist

is this the first time he complimented MD?

by Bboydragon25 on Feb 7, 2010 4:36 PM EST reply actions  

I find this to be a statement win

Anyone else think so?

Don't give up, don't ever give up. - Jim Valvano

by BaltimoreSportsFan on Feb 7, 2010 5:10 PM EST reply actions  

No

Carolina is bad this year. Winning the next two would be a statement to the conference though.

"When my time on earth is gone, and my activities here are passed, I want they bury me upside down, and my critics can kiss my a**!"
-Bobby Knight

by Johnny_S on Feb 7, 2010 5:33 PM EST up reply actions  

I know they're bad, but they're still the Nat'l champs.

I find beating defending champs important, even if they have virtually no returning starters/

Don't give up, don't ever give up. - Jim Valvano

by BaltimoreSportsFan on Feb 8, 2010 7:28 AM EST up reply actions  

your wrong

it doesn’t matter, their not very good this year at all and a win over them will not ring out anymore just because they won last year

by terpgrad06 on Feb 8, 2010 10:45 AM EST up reply actions  

I COULDN'T AGREE MORE.

When I was walking out of the arena, all that kept running through my head was “That was a STATEMENT WIN.” It doesn’t build up our resume any more, but it was an affirmation to the rest of the ACC and country that we are FOR REAL.

by kckb8 on Feb 7, 2010 5:23 PM EST reply actions  

I think the statement...

Is a composite of beating our first 4 home opponents by an average margin of nearly 20 points. In my recollection, even the best UNC and Duke teams of the last five years didn’t match that. If we continue to rock opponents at home and hold our own on the road, we will win 11 or even 12 games in conference.

They are so fun to watch right now, and really playing as a team. If they can avoid injuries and JWIll doesn’t hit the dreaded “freshman wall”, this could really be a season to remember.

by jellisjenius on Feb 7, 2010 5:33 PM EST reply actions  

defense

was infinitely impressive today. Aside from ginyard getting some open 3’s everything was contested and some of the other guys—namely bowie—played very very tough man to man. JWill needs to avoid those touchy fouls underneath but besides that he is amazingly solid.

by nroop1 on Feb 7, 2010 5:47 PM EST reply actions  

Great atmosphere!

Wow Comcast was crazy! They actually told everyone to move down to lower sections so I got front row balcony. Tried to take some videos of the student chants when the TV was on commercial but it seemed like every time I turned it off, they would start chanting “NIT,NIT!” or “U-N-C sucks!”. Oh well. I’ll try and post what I have tonight or tomorrow.

by apoc987 on Feb 7, 2010 5:58 PM EST reply actions  

Setting Screens

Something that is getting overlooked is just how strong our screens have been. Today, GV had a wide-open layup thanks to a great screen by Dino, 2 of EH’s 3s came off great screens by JW. It was really a thing of beauty. When they run their sets, get into position, and pass the ball a bit, this offense is explosive.

by nmprisons on Feb 7, 2010 8:02 PM EST reply actions  

SCREENS

 Your absouletly correct. No reason to fire up shots W/ 28 secs. on the shot clock.. Not complaining a bit, loved the W. Now lets get ready for UVA, and show the whole confrence they have been very lucky, and were very good!!! Then onto SAT, against PUKE.!!
 But UVA 1st.

by PADGE on Feb 7, 2010 10:09 PM EST up reply actions  

we beat a bad team badly. 26 assists. 13 turnovers and shot the 3 with great success. best play of the day was vasquez’s long bounce pass to williams beating the defense down the floor for the dunk. one thing they need to do is focus on virginia and not look ahead to duke. (see georgetown vs south fl.)

by fkterp on Feb 7, 2010 8:17 PM EST reply actions  

But then Georgetown did go on and dominate Villanova. Don’t get me wrong I want to win both those games, but if i had to choose I’d take losing to Virginia and beating Duke at Cameron over beating VA and losing to Duke anyday

by amoskowi on Feb 7, 2010 9:09 PM EST up reply actions  

It would have been that Milbourne dunk

in the first half if he had made it. Eric Hayes made a 3 on the possession though.

by DaGribb on Feb 7, 2010 9:33 PM EST up reply actions  

That was a assit!!! LOL

by PADGE on Feb 7, 2010 10:10 PM EST up reply actions  

all i have to say is that was a fun game to watch. especially at the end. everybody played good.

by TpTerp033 on Feb 7, 2010 10:44 PM EST reply actions  

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