Well, there goes the Terps chance of earning a signature win this season.
Maryland dropped its most anticipated regular season game of the year when they fell to the Duke Blue Devils at home, losing 80-62.
For the Terps, this game came down to missed opportunities. There were several times during the second half when Maryland looked to seize the momentum, but every time it looked like they would make the critical shot to make it close, a big mistake was made.
The Terps made a run in the middle of the half to cut the Duke lead to five, but that's as close as they would get in the second half. Maryland was unable to take advantage of countless amounts of three point opportunities, lay up chances, and couldn't rebound when they had to. As a result, Duke made the Terps pay for every mistake.
Duke seemed to score on nearly every wasted Maryland possession, a trend that certainly had to anger Gary Williams. It was almost as if every time there was a rebound that Maryland couldn't grab, Duke would put it back easily. It also seemed as if every time a Maryland shooter would attempt a three pointer, Duke would get the rebound (quite easily) and respond with a trifecta of their own. It was just that kind of night for the Terps.
The game's leading scorer was Kyle Singler, who scored 22 points to go along with 6 rebounds. Nolan Smith was right behind him, scoring 21 points and grabbing 6 rebounds. On the Maryland side, it was Jordan Williams scoring 20 points and netting 10 rebounds, yet another double double for the sophmore center.
Although this loss certainly hurts for Maryland, they still have plenty of opportunity to strengthen their NCAA tournament chances. They still play in a relatively weak ACC this year and seem poised to reach double digit ACC wins. The question for Maryland is, can they do it? And, more importantly, will the selection committee be impressed with their resume without a signature win?
Only time will tell.