COLLEGE PARK, Md.-If you walk into Cole Field House and play one of your worst games of the season, you will probably experience something like what happened to the Virginia men's basketball team Saturday: a 35-point whipping.
Behind poor shooting, poor defense and an uninspired performance altogether, the No. 7 Cavaliers fell to No. 16 Maryland by a lopsided score, 102-67. The 35-point victory was the eighth-straight time Maryland (20-9, 10-6 ACC) toppled the Cavaliers (20-7, 9-7) at College Park.
The Cavaliers shot a measly 35.3 percent from both the floor and three-point range and allowed the Terrapins 62.3 percent of their shots and 61.5 percent of their treys. Maryland's offensive execution was almost to perfection on its senior day, and the Terps totaled 27 assists and only 10 turnovers, a much better ratio than the Cavaliers' 10 assists to 14 turnovers.
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"We took bad shots, we played horrible defense and we didn't take care of the ball," Gillen said. "We suffered in every phase of the game today. We are definitely better than that. With a performance like this, I don't think we could have beaten anyone."
Virginia, a team that normally thrives off of its trademark scoring balance, only had two players score in double figures. Sophomore guard Roger Mason Jr. tallied 16 points, two blocks and two steals, while junior forward Chris Williams added 15 points, three assists and two steals. Both accounted for almost half of the Cavalier's total points.
The Cavaliers' three other starters - junior guard Adam Hall, sophomore center Travis Watson and senior point guard Donald Hand - combined for only 16 points on 6-of-27 shooting from the floor.
"We need the whole team to show up, not just two guys," Gillen said.
On Jan. 31, when the Terps came to University Hall, the Cavaliers won by 21 points with a solid team effort and six players in double figures.
The opposite prevailed Saturday, when Maryland had five players with double digits. Like Virginia, only two were starters, but the difference was bench production. The Terrapins' bench contributed an impressive 62 points versus a meager 20 from Virginia's bench.
"They played harder, and that was the big difference," Mason said. "We just weren't ready to play today."
Maryland junior guard Juan Dixon, who tallied 21 points, led the Terps. Senior forward Terence Morris earned his sixth double-double of the season with 14 points and 13 rebounds, while sophomore Drew Nicholas came off the bench to record his first double-double with 16 points and 10 assists.
The score was 47-34 at halftime, and then the game appeared to be essentially over in the first few minutes of the second half, after Hand had four unsuccessful drives into the paint. Watson's three-point airball not much later served as further evidence of a shaken team. Virginia also allowed Maryland to make 20 of its last 25 shots.
"We need to fight better, have better leadership and dig down deeper," Gillen said.
Virginia had a chance to finish third in the ACC standings for the second consecutive year but with the loss to Maryland, dropped to fourth. Instead, the Terrapins seized third. The loss ended the Cavaliers' regular season with a lousy 2-6 ACC road record.
"We wanted to take small steps forward throughout the season, but today, at the end, we took a giant step backwards," Gillen said.
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