Frustration.
That is the only word to describe Virginia's last minute loss to Maryland. Frustrating for the players, frustrating for the fans, frustrating for everyone involved with Virginia.
That being said, the Cavaliers' 91-87 loss to the Terrapins was one hell of a ball game. Of all the quality college basketball games that I have seen this season - and I have seen quite a few - this game ranks up there as one of the best. There is a reason both teams were in the Top 10 going into tonight's contest.
With three minutes, 22 seconds left in the second half, junior Travis Watson took a long pass from senior Chris Williams and made a great play for a lay up and a foul. I sat back and thought to myself, "They are going to win this ball game." Sorry Virginia fans, that was a big mistake. Watson proceeded to miss the free throw and it went straight downhill from there.
Unfortunately for the Cavaliers, Watson's miss was one of quite a few in the last 10 minutes of the game. Both Watson and Williams missed big free throws coming down the stretch, including the front end of three one-and-ones. When you are trying to put a team away, missing free throws is deadly more often than not.
It didn't help matters that Maryland only missed one free throw out of 26 the entire game. That one miss came at the very end and was essentially meaningless.
Neither did the fact that Virginia's defense lost Maryland guards Drew Nicholas and Juan Dixon for three of four plays. Nicholas pulled up and hit two huge three-pointers, one from 27 feet to put the Terrapins down one. In between Nicholas' threes and Dixon's running jumper, Byron Mouton hit two free throws in a one-and-one situation to give the Terps a lead.
"We needed everyone," Maryland coach Gary Williams said after the game. "We knew Virginia was as good a free throw shooting team as there is in the conference. We wanted to try and match that."
It's entirely possible that Maryland will not make 24 free throws in a row for the next 10 years. But tonight they did, and boy, did it sting. You could see it on the players' faces as they sat in the conference room talking to reporters.
"This is a tough one," freshman Jason Clark said. "We played our hardest, but just couldn't seal the deal in the end. We know we are a really good team. We just have to hold on at the end of the game."
Before last night the Cavaliers had always played well down the stretch. They stayed close to Duke in their loss last Friday night and had come back to win big games in the closing minutes against both Florida State and Georgia Tech.
But the Cavaliers shouldn't hang their heads this morning, even if many fans are. The team has two huge road games coming up against Missouri and N.C. State, and if they play like they did tonight, there is no question that the Cavaliers willcome up with big wins.
"It's frustrating, but we have to move on," said junior Roger Mason Jr., who scored one below his career high with 29 points. "But we have to just play on. We have some big games coming up, so we can't hang our heads."
Those upcoming big games include an out-of-conference matchup with No. 24 Missouri this Sunday in Columbia, Mo. The Cavaliers will get a chance to strut their stuff on the road, and expect Gillen and his team to bounce back like a boxer off the ropes.
Even though they lost last night, Virginia showed the country that they can go head-to-head with the best. They have a few things to work on but they are close to playing at full potential. When that happens, watch out America, because the Cavaliers are coming.
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