With infighting surfacing between Gary Williams and the Athletic Department and their top player struggling through shooting troubles, Maryland needed to pull out their best and they didn’t disappoint. Maryland, losers of four of their past five games, came out strong from the start of the game and continued through the second half. Unlike three of the last four losses where Maryland had double digit leads only to squander them through the second half, Maryland played with intensity shown through good defense, key offensive rebounding and timely shooting.

Greivis Vasquez missed a triple double by one assist ending with 11 points, 10 boards and 9 assists. Milbourne led Maryland in scoring with 17 points and 6 boards. Greivis’ struggles continued though where he went 4 – 15 from the field, 1 – 7 from three point range. This marks the third time in the past five games where he has shot below thirty percent from the field.

Going with an eight man rotation, Gary got the best from his players tonight. Maryland had a season low in turnovers with seven and received a great shooting performance from Landon Milbourne. Landon may be shaping up as the most improved player in the ACC this year especially when he’s hitting his ten to fourteen foot jumpers. Time and time again, Landon was able to square up nicely and hit his shots in the face of the Miami defense.

Maryland was able to set good defense of their own providing their offense with easy transition shots. They went man-to-man in the first half and switched it to zone for most or all of the second half. Maryland not traditionally known for zone defense has been able to use it effectively this year. The only time Miami was successful against the zone was when they cut the basket. Miami did shoot 31 three’s making only ten of them, but if this were a Duke or Carolina team shooting that many three’s, it would probably be enough to sink Maryland.

As Maryland looks ahead to the Carolina game this week, they’ll need to stop rushing their shots or missing easy lay-ups inside. When they were able to set their half-court offense tonight, they were highly successful. They’ll need to get to the free throw line as well as that is one of their strengths. Without any size inside though, they may be overmatched and could make for a long night.