Maryland Blows Out UVA on the Road….Wait, What?!

File that under things you never see, ever. Maryland has had a fair amount of success over the years against the Cavaliers, but winning big in Charlottesville has, well, never been the Terps’ thing. Consider the following list, via D1scourse:

"A rundown of Maryland’s largest victories in Charlottesville in the long-running series, with the information double-checked with Virginia’s record book:34: 1930 (54-20)24: 2011 (66-42)23: 1934 (43-20)21: 1958 (87-66)21: 1962 (91-70 — December 1961)20: 1967 (85-65 — December 1966)19: 1975 (70-51)17: 1952 (59-42 — December 1951)16: 1938 (39-23)14: 1943 (56-42)14: 1954 (70-56)11: 1925 (36-25)11: 1973 (92-81)"

What was expected, however, was a defensive matchup, and that’s exactly what we got. Whenever you put Tony Bennett, the epitome of a defense-first coach, up against a team that has struggled offensively as much as Maryland has this year, you’re going to get a low scoring game. Luckily for Maryland fans, the Terps came out on top in this one, winning 66-42.

Before we get to who played well, all streaks have to end eventually, right? Jordan Williams scored four points with six rebounds, ending his ridiculous streak of a school-record 13 straight double doubles.

Adrian Bowie had his best game of the year, by far, and probably managed to win back the hearts of a lot of Terps fans who thought he had been too hesitant with his shot selection this year. Bowie finished the game with 22 points, one short of his career high (Miami in 2009), tied his career high in three pointers made (three) and set his career high in steals (four). All in all, the senior shot 8-13 from the floor, was incredibly effective with the ball in his hands, and was able to get his shooting touch going while also driving to the hoop well.

Cliff Tucker had a good game off the bench once again, scoring 13 points with three rebounds and hitting two three-pointers of his own. Pe’Shon Howard had a nice rebound of a game off the bench, scoring nine points with four assists, three rebounds, two steals, and no turnovers. While he doesn’t have the scoring ability of Terrell Stoglin (who scored seven points), MVPe’ is a better ball handler than Stogs and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him as the new starting point guard, moving Bowie to the two and keeping Sean Mosley at the three.

Speaking of Mo’, he continued to struggle on offense, missing all three of his shots and finishing the game scoreless for the second time this season. He hasn’t scored in double figures in 2011 – his last game with more than ten points was December 29 against North Florida, when he scored 15. Mo’ does a lot of things around the ball though, rebounding well for his size and playing good defense, so I wouldn’t expect to see his playing time diminish.

The lack of playing time for Haukur Palsson surprised me. The game was out of hand for a good portion of the second half, and Hawk got the start against Clemson, and yet he only played in nine minutes last night. He did his Hawk thing while on the court, not scoring but causing matchup problems and playing solid defense.

Dino Gregory did his usual solid game of eight points and five rebounds with a block, and shot four of six from the floor, all while playing nasty interior defense.

The Wahoos shot 33.3% of the floor, and their two leading scorers (Mustapha Farrakhan and Joe Harris) each finished with eight points. All of that was due to a combination of poor shooting and great defense from the Terps.

Maryland’s next game is a tougher one than most people would have thought a month ago – a road date with Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets have been on fire at home recently, blowing out UNC (78-58), Wake (74-39), and VTech (72-57).

WOW, I am glad we get to play Wake again. We’ll have a preview of the GT game closer to gameday.