DURHAM— His teammates scoffed at the notion.
Of course Maryland wasn’t plotting revenge for Duke’s stunning come-from-behind win the first time the Atlantic Coast Conference powers met.
Yeah, right, said big man Lonny Baxter from a raucous Maryland locker room after a 91-80 win at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Tuesday night.
“When somebody does that to you on your home court, you’ve got to turn around and do it to them at their home court,”Baxter said after several of his teammates downplayed the angle. “Last time we slipped up at the end. We just weren’t going to let that happen again. We couldn’t, no matter what.”
Maryland’s victory over the second-ranked Blue Devils added an exclamation point to the Terps’ turbulent season. After Duke’s 10-point rally in the final minute to beat Maryland on its home court, the Terps dropped four of their next five games, including another home loss to lowly Florida State.
But No. 16 Maryland emerged from its funk with blowout victories against Wake Forest and N.C. State and kept the momentum going against Duke.
“I cannot say enough about our character,”Maryland head coach Gary Williams said. “To go through what we went through at College Park, losing a game like we did and to come down here and win, that is really big.
“We really went through a tough stretch after that game. We lost our confidence and had to get that back.”
With Juan Dixon playing at his best, Maryland (19-9 overall, 9-6 ACC) had all the confidence it needed. Dixon scored 28 points on 11-for-20 shooting and added five steals. He negated everything Shane Battier did to help his Devils win on Senior Night.
“Dixon was literally sensational,” Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “Battier was too, but Dixon had more help.”
Baxter tossed in 15 points and 10 rebounds and Terence Morris added 13 points and 12 rebounds as the Terps blasted Duke 49-39 on the boards.
Blue Devil center Carlos Boozer, who finished with 16 points and seven rebounds, left the game with 15 minutes to play in the second half and didn’t return. He hobbled off the court twice and Krzyzewski said Boozer likely broke a bone in his right foot and could be sidelined until late in the NCAA Tournament.
“It made a big difference,”said Duke point guard Jason Williams, who struggled to score 13 points in part due to a sore calf from Saturday’s win at Wake. “I think Carlos was starting to come out as a force inside, and it hurt. We should’ve picked it up more when he was out, but we didn’t do that.”
Battier —honored alongside Nate James and reserves J.D. Simpson and Ryan Caldbeck before the game — got hot late in the first half and rallied his team.
Maryland led 36-27 with 5:05 to play before Boozer scored on a three-point play, Williams hit a 3-pointer and Battier drained three free throws for a 9-0 run that tied the score. Battier then drilled consecutive 3-pointers, and two more bombs from Chris Duhon and Williams put Duke (25-4, 12-3) up by seven at halftime.
The Terps immediately attacked down low and opened the second half with a 6-0 run on a Baxter slam and two Morris putbacks.
“Confidence-wise it was very big,”Gary Williams said. “To go out and score was the big thing, that we scored before they could make a run of any sort. I think that gave us confidence for the rest of the half.”
Duke built its lead back to nine points after another Battier 3 at the 15:20 mark, but then Boozer departed — taking the Blue Devils’ offense and defense with him.
Dixon scored on two easy hoops in the lane and Steve Blake, who finished with 11 assists, hit a pullup to make it a three-point game.
Jason Williams’ 3-pointer gave Duke a 67-62 lead at the 9:39 mark, but it would be his team’s last field goal until a minute remained in the game.
In the interim, Duke missed 11 shots. The Blue Devils went 24 percent from the field in the second half, by far their worst effort of the season.
“I through we should’ve driven the ball a little bit more, but we settled early for jump shots,”Krzyzewski said. “But I don’t fault our guys. Maryland played better than we did.”
The Terps kept getting rebounds and hitting the shots. Dixon’s floater in the lane, followed by a steal and layup, put Maryland up 72-69. Danny Miller followed with an improbable tip-in of a missed free throw and a wide-open layup underneath to extend the lead to five points.
“We didn’t play great defense,”James said. “That’s the problem, when things aren’t going right sometimes, our defense tends to suffer when the offense is not clicking.”
As the clock ticked down to the final minute, Maryland’s 82-75 lead looked secure — about as secure as that 10-point margin had a month ago in College Park.
“It was ironic. I looked up at the clock with 52 seconds and we were down seven, almost the identical situation we were in there,”Battier said. “We just didn’t have the magic tonight.”
The Terps clinched it with nine free throws in the final minute, including four from Dixon. His last trip to the foul line came courtesy Battier’s fifth foul.
The wildly popular senior left the court to a thunderous ovation, but without a win.
“I’m sorry for our seniors,”Krzyzewski said. “What a great class they’ve been. This was not a game that’s indicative of what they’ve done for four years.”
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