Duane Simpkins sat in the Maryland locker room, in a corner, all by himself. He clutched a can of orange juice with one hand and buried his head in the other.
It was time to go now, time to board the buses. Simpkins picked himself up slowly, and started his long walk out of the Baltimore Arena.
He didn't make it out of the locker room.
He ducked into an open coat closet, threw down his can of juice and burst into tears.
"C'mon 'D,' you'll be all right," teammate Keith Booth said as Simpkins bent over sobbing in a corner of the closet. "Come on, son."
Joe Smith leaned over to offer further words of comfort, but Simpkins just stayed in the closet, stayed there until he was joined by his father, future stepmother and brother.
Maryland coach Gary Williams was asked if he had ever seen his junior point guard so inconsolable.
"Uh, yeah," Williams said, smiling.
The locker room was nearly empty now. The last few players and their families were chatting in the hallway. The buses were rumbling underneath the Arena on this cold, rainy night.
Williams didn't speak to Simpkins directly.
He pulled his father aside instead.
"Make sure you tell him -- he's not the reason we lost," Williams said, emphatically.
Not the only reason, anyway.
Indeed, Maryland's 85-74 loss to Massachusetts did not merely expose one player.
It exposed an entire team.
All the old questions about the Terps resurfaced yesterday, and a new one emerged.
Where was the outside shooting? The bench depth? The clutch scoring? And what on earth happened to the foul shooting?
Those were the major questions.
Where was the point guard?
That was a significant question, too.
Yesterday was only a nonconference game in December, but it was shown on national television and witnessed by a noisy, raucous crowd of 13,332 at the Arena.
Big stage to fall off.
And Simpkins fell hard.
In 37 minutes, he shot 1-for-6 from the field, 1-for-4 from the line. His one basket was a layup off a fast break. He finished with five turnovers, four assists and zero steals.
"I just didn't get in the flow as far as my offense," Simpkins said. "I couldn't hit my jump shots, my free throws, anything."
Was it the Massachusetts defense?
Simpkins dismissed the question. "Just one of those games," he said.
He's a smart kid, a conscientious kid, and that's why he was so upset. He knew how poorly he had played, how much he had hurt Maryland.
Williams knew it, too, but seemed far less disturbed.
"Today," he said, "was one day."
Williams recalled last season, when Simpkins scored 18 points in the first game against Massachusetts and a career-high 20 in the second, helping Maryland reach the Sweet 16.
Simpkins is what he is -- a good ACC point guard, but not a great one. Williams isn't about to replace him with sophomore Matt Kovarik. His team faces deeper problems.
This was a game the Terps should have won. They led by one point with 4:36 left. After that, they were outscored, 15-3 -- their one basket coming with 6.6 seconds left.
You don't win when you miss 17 foul shots. You don't win when you shoot 1-for-14 from three-point range -- and the only basket comes from your center, Smith.
Heck, Smith and Johnny Rhodes combined for 46 of Maryland's 74 points. The other three starters -- Simpkins, Booth and Exree Hipp -- shot a combined 3-for-20.
Contrast that with Massachusetts, which placed five players in double figures and got a team-high 18 points out of reserve guard Mike Williams.
Both of Massachusetts' senior starters fouled out -- All-America forward Lou Roe with 7:08 left, point guard Derek Kellogg with 2:49 left. Sophomore center Marcus Camby fouled out with 46 seconds left after playing with four fouls for the final 10:27.
FTC The measure of a great team is its ability to overcome adversity, and Massachusetts certainly did that yesterday. But back in the locker room, Simpkins took it all upon himself.
"He's always been emotional, but over the years he's learned how to control it," said his father, Sylvester. "At his position, he has to do that."
During the game, that is.
Not after it.
It took a good 10 minutes, but Simpkins finally emerged from the closet and sat down on a blue folding chair in the hallway outside the locker room, gathering himself.
The team bus was leaving for College Park, but the Maryland players had the option of arranging their own transportation.
Simpkins didn't think twice.
He's still only 20 years old.
-! He went home with his father.