Maryland's NCAA Hopes Ride on Freshmen

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- On the day Maryland welcomed back the centerpiece of last year's ACC co-champion and NCAA tournament team, current Memphis Grizzlies rookie Greivis Vasquez, Gary Williams started his two freshman guards together for the first time this season.

The Terps won, defeating North Carolina State 87-80, with Terrell Stoglin, the point guard from Tucson, knocking down a career-high 25 points, many of them in spectacular fashion, and adding nine assists.

Still, it was a harrowing ride, thanks just as much to Stoglin and Pe'Shon Howard, who contributed their share of Maryland's 10 first-half turnovers, several during an N.C. State 14-0 run late in the half that gave it momentum and a two-point halftime lead.

The shakiness shorted out the electricity in the Comcast Center that Vasquez's return had helped provide: he was back, during the NBA's All-Star break, to see his jersey number raised to the rafters to join Terp legends like John Lucas, Buck Williams, Len Bias and Juan Dixon. It also refreshed several thousands of memories, of how Vasquez -- last year's ACC player of the year and the school's second all-time leading scorer -- was alternately maddening and breathtaking as a freshman starter. Also, they recalled how later, he and a pair of senior teammates, Eric Hayes and Landon Milbourne, were the rocks on the team that surprised the ACC and came within a buzzer-beating three-pointer by Michigan State of going to last year's Sweet 16.

This year's team, without the loved-and-hated Vasquez, likely would have seen their NCAA hopes extinguished had it lost at home to the Wolfpack, now 14-12 and 4-8 in the ACC. The Terps (17-10, 6-6) can still make a case for themselves by winning their final five regular-season games (starting with games this week against Florida State and at North Carolina) and probably two more in the conference tournament.

Vasquez got to talk to the players while he was in town, and his advice, especially to the younger players, he said, was to relax.

"Just play the game,'' he said before Sunday's game. "This (being in the NBA) is a job. You just have to play the game.''

Freshman Pe'Shon Howard got permission from Greivis Vasquez to wear his No. 21 jersey

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As it turned out, Stoglin said the key on Sunday was to stop trying to do too much and just be the floor leader Williams had intended him to be when he decided to start him and Howard together.

"I just wanted to push the ball and go, but Coach Williams told me to control the ball and stay within our offense. That's why we came back and took the lead,'' said Stoglin, who had started eight of the first nine games of 2011, but came off the bench for four straight before Sunday. Maryland lost the last two of those games, at Boston College and Virginia Tech last week, games that planted the Terps -- whose resume is devoid of signature wins inside and outside of conference play -- squarely on the bubble.

Vasquez spent time talking to Stoglin, and Williams also had Dixon, the starter on the 2002 national championship team, talk to him about being the floor leader. The lessons, Stoglin said, are sinking in, even if they sink in for only parts of games
instead of entire ones. Asked if he felt he was becoming more like Vasquez was late in his career, Stoglin said, "I'm just turning into a point guard, like Coach wants me to be.''

"Terrell Stoglin was once again tough,'' Williams said. "He's going to make some mistakes once in a while in terms of shot selection, but what he gives you is someone who wants to be out there and really likes the competition. He really enjoys playing. He's a tough little guy, and it's great to see him advance during his freshman year.''

It was better to watch in the second half, when he scored 18 of his points, than the first, when Maryland committed five turnovers and managed three baskets in the final five minutes. Stoglin was responsible for only one of them, but the sudden overall halt in the offense took place on his watch.

N.C. State ran through that door, erased a 10-point deficit and led 40-38 at halftime. As late as the 6:39 mark of the second half, it was tied at 71.

Maryland dominated the rest of the game with defense -- the Wolfpack went scoreless for the next 4 1/2 minutes -- and free-throw shooting. The Terps went 10-for-10 from the line from then on. Stoglin was 6 of 6, and he mixed in an acrobatic driving scoop of a layup with 1:50 left to pad Maryland's lead to 81-72.

Stoglin and Sean Mosley -- the junior guard who started most of the year before coming off the bench the last two weeks -- split the Terps' final 16 points. That was significant, because in the most critical portion of the game, Maryland took control without a single point from forward Jordan Williams, who scored 26, none in the final 12 minutes.

Also significant: the upperclassmen did help enormously, with senior Dino Gregory finishing with 18 points and 10 rebounds, Mosley with 10 points and six boards and senior guard Adrian Bowie (who had started every game but one until Sunday) managing three assists and no turnovers in seven crucial second-half minutes.

The fact that it all provided a narrow escape against a lower-end, eminently beatable ACC opponent, however, diluted at least some of the excitement. The consequences of a loss? "Yeah, it would have -- it would've been a disaster,'' Stoglin had to admit.

Vasquez, in his post-graduate leadership role, offered encouraging words about his alma mater's position of relying on so much youth a year after the seniors carried the load.

"It takes time. This is a young, a very, very young team,'' he said. "Obviously they have a big-time young player in Jordan Williams. But he's got to learn; the other young players, they've got to learn, too.

"Obviously,'' he added, "you don't want to learn all these things too late, because then it'll be too late for us to get into the tournament. But we've still got time. We've got five more games to do it, then you've got the ACC tournament. I think we can win all five games. We can beat UNC at UNC any time.''

The ever-present swagger surfaced just that quickly. But Vasquez knows that, in practical terms, Maryland isn't "we'' anymore. The ball is not in a senior's hands this time, but a freshman, two in fact. So is Maryland's hazy NCAA tournament fate.

Source: http://ncaabasketball.fanhouse.com/2011/02/20/marylands-ncaa-hopes-ride-on-freshmen/

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