Maryland vs Clemson Basketball Recap

Maryland 88, Clemson 79

For a Clemson team that's in the running for an NCAA Tournament berth, a road win against Maryland would have done so much to cement the Tigers' place in the field of 65. For much of Wednesday night's game in College Park, Md., it looked as though the people in visiting purple jerseys were going to remove all drama from the coming weeks of basketball.

Ah, but that wouldn't be the Clemson way, now, would it?

Yes, a program with a penchant for exasperating its fan base did even more to affirm its not-so-nice reputation in the last week of February. Once again, in the middle of a modestly successful season that could be so much more satisfying, Clemson basketball lost hold of a game it had been dominating. As a result, the Tigers will have to sweat some bullets before they make their way to the NCAAs.

Let's take a trip back in time and examine one manifestly maddening aspect of the Clemson program. Over the years, losing big leads has become something of a Tiger trademark. While it's undeniably true that Coach Oliver Purnell has turned the program into a winner after a series of sad-sack seasons under former boss Larry Shyatt, Clemson has not attained elite status in the ACC - and, for that matter, in the realm of national college basketball - because of a pronounced propensity to slip on the banana peel in meaningful moments.

In 2007, Virginia closed with a 19-2 run to erase a 61-45 deficit and conquer Clemson, 64-63. Last February, Florida State went on a 23-4 second-half spurt to dig out from a 57-42 hole and beat the Tigers, 65-61. Tiger teams have been known to gag on big leads in the past, but this season's club has sadly become even more experienced in the art of the collapse.

Just this past December, in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, the visiting Illinois Fighting Illini came into Littlejohn Coliseum and rallied from a 51-28 second-half deficit on the strength of a 35-10 surge. The ACC lost to the Big Ten for the first time in the history of the inter-conference contest because Clemson couldn't hold up its end of the bargain in a 76-74 defeat on its home floor. The sting of letting down the ACC was bad enough, but as the Tigers traveled north to Maryland for a Wednesday night fight with the rival Terps, the true wound found in that sickening setback against the aptly-named "ILL-ini" was that Purnell's pupils lacked a quality non-conference win other than a nine-point triumph over Texas A&M. Had Clemson beaten Illinois, the Tigers probably wouldn't have sweated the NCAA bubble as they came to College Park, but due to that squandered 23-point cushion, the people from the Palmetto State needed one more signature success story to show to the NCAA Selection Committee.

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For the first 22 minutes of this momentous matchup with Maryland, it looked as though Clemson was going to come through and deliver the goods.

The Tigers took the fight to the Terps in the first half and the early stages of the second half. Clemson made eight 3-pointers in the first 22 minutes of competition at the Comcast Center and put Maryland's defense on a pendulum. Whenever coach Gary Williams tried to extend coverage, the Tigers were able to slash to the goal and work the ball to the rim for layups and dunks. When the Terrapins sagged, the visitors from the state of South Carolina were able to bang in a long-distance shot. The point was plain for all to see: Clemson's offense was operating with harmony and high-octane energy. Surely, on a night when everything was working right and the purple jerseys seemed to be working magic against a Maryland team wearing its alternate gold home uniforms, the Tigers could close the sale. After all, they owned a 52-40 lead with 18 minutes left.

Again, that wouldn't be the Clemson way.

The Tigers might still advance to the NCAAs - in fact, they're still likely to do so - but it's just going to be more difficult than they had hoped. Maryland - so flat and uninspired in those first 22 minutes - scored 48 points in the final 18 minutes to roar to the finish line first. After Clemson attained that 52-40 advantage, a typically angry Williams called timeout from the Maryland bench. Following that attention-getting move just two minutes into the second half, the Terps took off, scoring 13 points in the next three minutes to immediately shave a 12-point deficit to three, at 56-53, with 15 minutes to go.

The timid and suddenly tamed Tigers never got their groove back.

After a lull of several minutes in which neither team landed a decisive blow, Maryland took charge. Trailing 67-65 with just under eight minutes left, the Terps - behind superstar senior Greivis Vasquez - uncorked a lethal 12-0 run in just under two minutes of clock time to grab a 77-67 bulge with 6:04 remaining. Purnell called two timeouts during that run, and while Clemson couldn't quite respond with a huge run of its own, the Tigers slowly worked their way back into contention. Tiger guard Andre Young hit a 3-pointer to bring the visitors within five - at 80-75 - with just over four minutes left, but another two-minute scoring drought, precisely when Maryland also went cold again from the field, cooked Clemson for good.

Another meaningful game, another blown double-digit lead, another season on the edge. Life's pretty normal for the Clemson basketball program. Sometimes, it's good to break free of a reputation.



By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer