GREENSBORO-The men's basketball team entered the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament bruised and battered, and it left after the quarterfinals with more battlescars to show for its efforts.
The fourth-seeded Blue Devils fell to the fifth-seeded Maryland Terrapins, 82-69, on March 8 at the Greensboro Coliseum. With the win, the Terrapins secured an NCAA bid and advanced in the ACC Tournament to play Georgia Tech in the semifinals.
"I'm proud of our guys," head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "Maryland played really well. We played hard but we missed shots."
The first half was a close contest, with neither team managing more than a five-point lead until the Terrapins upped their advantage to six in the last minute of the stanza, 35-29.
Yet perhaps the most crucial point of the first half for the Blue Devils came with just over two minutes to go. Sophomore guard Steve Wojciechowski, who was filling in for already-injured Chris Collins, fell and sprained his ankle, letting out an excruciating groan as he landed on the court.
Freshman walk-on Jay Heaps entered the game for Wojciechowski, and many thought that Wojciechowski would be out for the remainder of the contest. Despite the sprain, Wojciechowski returned for the second half, contributing 13 minutes before fouling out with 4:40 left in the game.
"I thought he played really well in the first half..." Krzyzewski said of Wojciechowski. "You want to cry for him, so to speak, but you can't do that. At halftime we made all our adjustments for him not to play, and then he said, 'Give me a chance.' You've got to give him a chance, and I thought he played courageously."
The Blue Devils, missing the offensive fire of Collins, shot merely 38 percent from the field, including just 25 percent from beyond the three-point arc. Junior Jeff Capel misfired on most of his attempts, shooting a measly 3-of-20 from the floor, including missing all nine three-point attempts.
"I feel like I was getting good looks, the ball just wasn't going in," Capel said. "You go through some of those nights or whatever, you struggle shooting the ball. It seems like I've been having that all year."
Sophomore Ricky Price stepped up for the Blue Devils offensively, leading Duke with 21 points. Junior Greg Newton notched another double-double, grabbing 15 rebounds and pouring in 16 points.
Despite Price and Newton's outstanding efforts, Duke could not stop Maryland's LaRon Profit, who gave the Terrapins 19 points off the bench. Only one of Maryland's starters, guard Duane Simpkins, scored double figures for the Terps. Reserves Mario Lucas and Rodney Elliott put up 11 and 10 points, respectively.
"The bench has gotten a chance to play all year-we don't lose anything when we go to them," Maryland head coach Gary Williams said. "They stepped up today and did what expected."
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