ACC road victories might be rarer than an accurate snow forecast. Winning at No.12 Georgia Tech tonight might finally gain Maryland some respect in the polls.
Coach Gary Williams said yesterday the young Terrapins must continually prove themselves despite already having beaten three ranked teams. After all, detractors could credit a homecourt advantage for Wednesday night’s 90-84 victory over No.9 North Carolina at Comcast Center.
“I want to see the same emotion [among players] on the road,” Williams said. “We can’t play well because we’re playing in front of our home crowd — that can’t be the only reason. You’re not going to have a chance to win every road game, so when you do you have to take it. You become a good team when you can still have the same emotion on the road as you do at home.”
Maryland already has an overtime road victory, beating No.1 Florida 69-68 on Dec.10. The Gators crowd certainly matched crazed ACC fans, repeatedly showering the court with trash after controversial calls. Visiting Alexander Memorial Coliseum tonight is no tougher than many Tobacco Road venues. If the Terps (10-3, 1-1 ACC) can upset the Yellow Jackets (12-3, 1-1), then Maryland clearly belongs among the nation’s Top 25. The Terps return home against No.2 Duke (13-1, 3-0) on Wednesday.
“We’ve made a statement with three of our games so far,” Williams said.
Maryland faces a similarly emerging team. Georgia Tech opened 12-0 before two straight losses, but its 13-2 mark still is the school’s best start ever. The Yellow Jackets beat Connecticut and Texas Tech early before falling at North Carolina and Georgia in double overtime. Williams said Georgia Tech simply needs to gain confidence against traditional ACC powerhouses.
“When you have a league like [the ACC], it’s hard to change your position,” Williams said. “All those kids have grown up hearing about Duke and North Carolina, and until you beat them you still have that thought like, ’Wow, they’re two great teams.’ That’s what you have to get through as you try to move on. We had to beat Duke and North Carolina to ever be considered as good as they are.”
Georgia Tech has improved after losing its two big men in the offseason. One was Chris Bosh, who went to the NBA. The Yellow Jackets became a smaller, faster team fueled by four guard/forwards. B.J. Elder (15.6 points) is perhaps the conference’s most underrated player, while Fort Washington’s Jarrett Jack beat Maryland last year with a 3-pointer.
“In this league, a lot of times you get overlooked if you don’t play on the teams that get all the publicity,” Williams said. “Now [Elder is] getting attention because they’re one of those teams.”
The Terps’ backcourt started slowly this season but should counter the Yellow Jackets. Sophomore point guard John Gilchrist delivered perhaps his best game with 20 points against North Carolina. Freshman Mike Jones has played well in two games to merit more minutes, and D.J. Strawberry has played regularly.
“Our backcourt rotation has gotten better with Mike Jones, so if we get into foul trouble it’s not the crisis it was maybe two weeks ago,” Williams said. “[Jones] looked like he belonged on the court. That’s big for Mike because he came in with some hype. The experts had him way up there, but he had to learn some things. The great thing is, he didn’t have an attitude.”
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