The Morning Dish – Tuesday, February 18th, 2003
by Adam Shandler
If you live in the DC area, even an Iditarod sled wouldn’t have helped you navigate through the 72 inches of snow that pummeled the area. (Okay, it was more like 40 inches, but once you get past 25 the boundaries of exaggeration get pushed a little.)
A torrential blizzard couldn’t stop fourteenth-ranked Maryland from hosting its game against No. 13 Wake Forest, a rescheduled affair that was originally slated for this past Sunday. The Terps showed the basketball universe that they are the supreme, six-armed deity in the ACC pantheon. Simply put, they crushed the Deacons 90-67 at the Comcast Center, which was surprisingly packed despite the horrendous weather. Almost 18,000 fans showed up to watch Gary Williams’s team avenge an 81-72 January loss to Wake.
While the Terps obviously outdid Wake on the scoreboard, they also won the war of the glass — 44-24, a huge feat considering the Deacs lead the nation in rebounding differential by a 12.5 margin. Ryan Randle brought down 13 boards to go along with his 13 points. Steve Blake added 21 points (including 12-of-13 from the line) and 9 assists and Drew Nicholas hit for 19 in a well-balanced Terp attack.
Skip Prosser’s club struggled from the floor, going 9-of-24 in the first half, bucketless in the last four minutes of the first half and hitting only one shot in the final ten minutes of the second.
Maryland (16-6, 8-3 in the ACC) has won five straight at home including the top spot in the ACC. Wake Forest falls to 7-3 in ACC, 17-4 overall.
Meanwhile, another DC-area club, Georgetown, has rescheduled its Big East contest with eighth-ranked Pittsburgh for tonight at the MCI center. Howard also pushed off its MEAC battle with Florida A&M. Here’s a list of some other games postponed due to what the media is calling Blizzard ’03 (echo, echo, echo…)
Quinnipiac at Long Island
Fairleigh Dickinson at Monmouth
Central Connecticut at Wagner
Hampton at Coppin State
South Carolina State at Delaware State
Morgan State at Norfolk State
Appalachian State at Wofford
Chattanooga at VMI
East Tenn. State at UNC-Greensboro
Miami at Providence
Villanova at Seton Hall
Ohio at Akron
Side Dishes
Bonner vs. New Orleans: No. 7 Florida clubbed New Orleans 77-48, or should we say Matt Bonner clubbed New Orleans? Bonner traded buckets with the entire Privateers team for 30 minutes of action but was eventually pulled after scoring 24 points, which included four three-pointers and 9-of-17 shooting. In a sidebar, Brett Nelson was pulled from the starting lineup in favor of Anthony Robeson, ending a starting streak of 19 games.
Too Much Mouton: Bobby Knight earned his 800th headache of his coaching career last night as he watched his Texas Tech Red Raiders fall to a hot-handed Texas team, No. 3 in the latest Hoopville poll. Brandon Mouton connected for six straight three-pointers, five in the first half and finished with 21 points. Texas Tech was also hurt by the absence of Andre Emmet, voted out of the Raider lineup last night by teammates because he and forward Nick Valdez missed the morning practice. Coach Knight handled the matter in stride as always, stating “I’ve said all that’s gonna be said about it, it’s none of your (expletive) business. Let’s not worry about somebody who didn’t deserve to play.”
The Cowboy Way: Wyoming is a team that is consistently receives votes but can never seem to crack the Hoopville Top 25. May have something to do with pesky rival Utah, ranked 22nd, which, by the way, defeated UNLV 86-80 for its eighth-straight conference win. In any event, the Cowboys disposed of Air Force last night 64-57, to make it eight straight over the Screaming Eagles. Speaking of Straight, Jay Straight hit for 27 points, including five three-pointers.
Coach Eustachy: Pay ‘Em: On a Big 12 media teleconference yesterday Iowa State coach Larry Eustachy announced his advocacy for student-athletes to be paid a small stipend. “I think it’s great. For some of them with their (economic) background, they hardly have enough money to eat properly. So I think they should (be paid).” Eustachy went on to say that $100 a week would be a reasonable number. Hear that, Lebron?
Tonight’s Menu
• As mentioned earlier, Pitt and Georgetown square off at the MCI Center, a quickly rescheduled make-up game due to this past weekend’s snowfest.
• No. 12 Notre Dame is coming off two big Big East losses to Seton Hall and Syracuse but could still win the Big East West if Pitt takes another tumble. Tonight, the Irish face West Virginia, which is coming off a confidence-building win against Rutgers. Meanwhile, fifteenth-ranked Syracuse is sitting pretty atop the Big East East, but St. John’s stands in Orangemen’s way tonight at the Carrier Dome, and Providence hosts Miami of Florida in another make-up game.
• In a crucial SEC clash, one team hopes to stay in the Hoopville Top 25, the other is looking to get back into it. No. 24 Georgia visits Alabama.
• No. 20 Illinois is coming off a loss to now-ranked (23) Purdue but looks to get back on the winning track with a home game against Michigan State.
That’s your Tuesday Dish. Happy Snow-Shoveling!
