Sometimes hatred can be the most powerful motivating force. The sheer will to decimate one's opponent can lead to remarkable results.
Not so for Maryland Thursday night.
Unable to translate its acerbic taste for its primary ACC foe into sustained excellence, Maryland eventually fell victim to a more emotionally harnessed Duke team.
"They were ready for a war, and they definitely got one," sophomore Chris Duhon said. "When they knocked us down, we didn't stay down. We just kept on fighting and fighting and fighting. That ended up being the difference for us tonight."
Despite Duke's ultimate resiliency, in the first half, it did not look as though either team had any other objective aside from showing up its opponent. The animosity between individuals surfaced, and nasty, physical play ensued.
In a one-on-one matchup that has emerged as one of the nation's most captivating, Jason Williams appeared to take a particular joy in the ease with which he was able to penetrate against junior Steve Blake early in the game.
After weeks of hearing pundits spout off about how the pesky Maryland guard had limited Williams to a modest 16.9 points per game on under-40 percent shooting from the floor, Williams' initial drives to the hoop seemed to serve the dual function of being his team's best option for a bucket and of putting his naysayers to rest. Nine points and 4:15 later, Williams proved that nobody on the collegiate level has the tools to shut him down consistently.
In another no-love-lost individual battle, Carlos Boozer and Lonny Baxter slugged it out underneath the basket for the ability to claim best-in-conference status.
Although Baxter finished the half with a slight numerical advantage, Boozer performed admirably in limiting his opponent's effectiveness given the amount of offensive touches Baxter received, and in doing so, allowed his team to lurk close to Maryland heading into the second half.
Nevertheless, with so much emotion spilling onto the court in the first half, the Terrapins seemed poised to topple the Blue Devils at home for the third consecutive year, largely attributable to their highly publicized desire to prove that they, and not Duke, are the class of the ACC.
"In the first half of the game, we did basically what we wanted to do," Maryland coach Gary Williams said. "We knew Duke would score. We felt that we had to score with them, and we ran our offense well enough and shot well enough to do that."
Then, he continued simply--yet noticeably devastated by another loss to Duke-- "In the second half, there was a combination of things [that went wrong]."
Whereas Williams did not elaborate fully as to why the Terrapins watched a one-point first half lead degenerate into a 21-point loss, Duhon saw a few trends that contributed to Duke's second-half dominance.
"We kept attacking the ball the whole game," the Louisianan said. "We kept our defensive pressure up to where they had to work extremely hard to get the ball. They couldn't make any easy passes, and we kept fighting. We did a great job of keeping our pressure up the whole game long."
And then, there was Mike Dunleavy.
Held to a paltry two points in the first half, Dunleavy received many more open looks in the second half because Jason Williams' first-half downpour forced the Terrapins to focus more of their defensive efforts on the best player in the nation.
With these added opportunities, Dunleavy knocked down 19 points in the last 20 minutes, virtually eliminating Maryland's chances for victory.
"We know that if Dunleavy has two or zero points in the first half, he can easily get 20 in the second," Duhon said. "It's just a matter of waiting his turn."
Lastly, whereas Maryland seemed to play on mere emotion, at the half, Duke was able to transform its own acrimonious feelings toward the Terrapins into inspired basketball.
In doing so, the Blue Devils highlighted the benefits of controlled over raw play, and showed Maryland that real champions do not merely overpower their opponents, but they also outwit them.
Once the rubble settled, when asked if Juan Dixon's incessant babbling ever affected his level of play, Dahntay Jones remarked, "I wasn't listening to him at all. I don't even know if he was trash talking me or not tonight. I had a mission out there, and we had a mission to win the game. I was just trying to complete it."
Unfazed, like a true champion, mission accomplished.
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