Williams agreed with the assessment that his team looked tentative late when it seemed as if no one aside from Vasquez even looked at the basket. Except for Vasquez and Bowie, whose foul trouble and eventual disqualification didn't help, no one on Maryland scored in double figures.
"I think it's fair to say that we were tentative," Williams said. "Adrian Bowie played great, but when he got in a little bit of foul trouble, that hurt us down the stretch. I had to sub him a couple of times because he had his fourth foul. We need everybody playing well. We're a team."
Midway through the second half, Maryland appeared to be on its way. Two three-pointers by Vasquez gave the Terps their largest lead at 52-35 with 12:30 left.
It seemed as if the Terps would take Miami's best punch when Landon Milbourne followed in a miss for a 58-51 lead with 2:45 remaining, but the Hurricanes kept firing their best shots. Especially McClinton, who hit a pair of threes in the final 1:37 to lift his team to its sixth straight win.
After two free throws by Eric Hayes with 41 seconds left put Maryland ahead 60-59, McClinton hit one of his patented rainbow threes for the game-winner. It was a play designed to go to the senior guard from White Marsh.
It capped what Miami coach Frank Haith said was the biggest comeback since the Hurricanes joined the ACC, and maybe when they were in the Big East.
"We were negative in the huddle, [but] Coach Haith always kept it positive in telling us that we were going to win that game," McClinton said. "We all went out there with one goal, and that was to win that basketball game."
play it again
Did you notice that...
* The Terps didn't get much bench help. Freshman guard Sean Mosley went scoreless in 19 minutes, and sophomore forward Dino Gregory had one rebound in 17 minutes.
* The lack of size and athleticism is starting to catch up with the Terps. It was obvious in the number of second, third and even fifth shots the Hurricanes got.
* Maryland's defense forced 10 turnovers in the first half but only two in the second half.
Up next
Maryland plays Saturday against Florida State (14-3, 1-1) at the Tucker Center in Tallahassee. The Seminoles are coming off a 78-65 win Tuesday at North Carolina State.
MARYLAND (12-4, 1-1)
@FLA. STATE (14-3, 1-1)
Saturday, noon
TV: Chs. 54, 5
Radio: 1300 AM, 105.7 FM
