It was a strange game.
That is the only way to describe Virginia's loss last night at Maryland. The entire affair seemed like a weird episode of "The Twilight Zone." The game was unique and featured its share of irony, like a team blowing a 14-point lead. The only thing missing was Rod Serling and his ever-so-cool monologue. Let me explain.
The game opened with the Cavaliers going on a 17-3 run. Everybody on the roster was hitting shots. Well, everybody except for second-leading scorer J.R. Reynolds, who got off to a slow start. Reynolds scored only five first-half points, but more about him later because the rest of the team was scoring in bunches. Virginia, last in the ACC in team scoring, was looking like a poor man's version of Duke. Even the Maryland fans, who know a thing or two about Duke, were left speechless as the early run took them out of the game for much of the matchup. It looked like Virginia was going to roll to an easy road win, but then the wheels fell off the wagon.
The Cavalier offense limped through the rest of the game, scoring only 45 points the rest of the way after scoring 20 in the first five and a half minutes of the game. Perhaps it was the full-court press Maryland coach Gary Williams used. Perhaps it was the 16 turnovers Virginia committed. Perhaps it was the fact that both of the Cavaliers' leading scorers, Sean Singletary and Reynolds, both picked up their fourth foul with over eight minutes to play. Perhaps it was that Singletary went nearly 12 minutes before scoring in the second half. Or maybe it was that Adrian Joseph did not score at all in the second half. Any reason is as good as the next. Reynolds took a stab at an answer.
"We just didn't have it in the second half," the guard said. "I had two quick fouls in the first five or six minutes, and that can make it tough to go out and try to get back in the groove."
Reynolds may have a point with the effect that foul trouble had on him. Virginia coach Dave Lietao, however, dismissed that notion, pointing out that the Cavaliers had the game tied at 60 with 3:09 remaining in the game. All I know is that everything I saw last night was strange. No, the game was beyond strange, it was bizarre. Bizarre as in seeing Reynolds and Singletary shoot a combined 12-39 from the field. Both players got their points, tallying 18 each, but these two have shown throughout the year that they are better shooters than their percentages last night indicate.
Adding to the bizarre feeling was the fact that Maryland went on runs of 12-3, 9-0 and 13-0. Must I remind everyone that this is a Terrapin team that lost Chris McCray and his 15.2 points per game recently?
Really, nothing made sense last night. To prove this point, the game almost turned on a botched fast break dunk by Maryland guard Mike Jones. Jones was all alone on the break and apparently decided that he wanted to hear the Maryland faithful yell "Who?!?" one more time when he attempted a highlight reel dunk that bounced off the rim.
A couple of points to make here. One -- no one should ever say "who?" when Jones the basketball player does anything. Jones is from Dorchester, Mass. Last time I checked, Dorchester, Mass. is really, really far away from Houston. Plus, I don't think the streets of Dorchester are anything like the streets of Houston. Also, Jones isn't good enough, at the moment, for fans to adore him like that. He's currently only averaging nine points per game. But I digress.
The only thing that remotely made sense was Williams becoming the Maryland all-time coaching wins leader. That is an accomplishment worth praising. I know it makes no sense for a Virginia student to praise a Maryland coach, but, then again, nothing else that happened last night made much sense either.
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