ORLANDO, Fla. -- The Maryland basketball team packed its bags and left Florida last night.
The Terps want to come back next week.
Maryland got out of the first weekend of the NCAA tournament with little difficulty yesterday, as another stellar defensive effort produced a 75-63 defeat of 10th-seeded Creighton in the second round of the South Regional before 14,959 at the Orlando Arena.
The Terps (28-5) advanced to the Sweet 16 for the fourth time in six seasons and set a school record for wins, but they also got careless as a 21-point lead dwindled to 10 with five minutes to go. It was a surprisingly subdued locker room.
"We have high goals," coach Gary Williams said. "As long as we do, we're going to be fine. The key this time of year is to wait until whenever it's over, and then celebrate. We don't have time to celebrate now. Our players immediately switched to St. John's after that game."
Second-seeded Maryland will meet No. 3 St. John's Thursday in Knoxville, Tenn. The other game there pits Auburn against Ohio State. The winners meet Saturday, and the South survivor will move on to the Final Four at Tropicana Field March 27.
The Terps have never reached college basketball's showcase.
A 12-0 run late in the first half by the nation's fifth-ranked team had them looking like Final Four material, but the Terps' demeanor was soured by some sloppy ball-handling. Second-team All-American Steve Francis, of all people, committed three straight turnovers during Creighton's late charge.
"We could have won this game," said Francis, who had a season-high seven turnovers, "by 40 or 50 if we had played the way we're capable."
The Terps didn't have a field goal in the final seven minutes, but the champions of the Missouri Valley Conference went more than three minutes without a point after Ryan Sears' three-pointer cut the difference to 67-57 with 4: 58 left. Order was restored when Creighton got nothing out of its next five possessions.
Maryland made just 41.1 percent of its field-goal attempts and committed 23 turnovers, its second-highest total of the season. The Terps had their best rebounding game of 1999, however, and their defensive work was as distinctive as ever, as Creighton (22-9) made a season-low 34.4 percent of its shots.
Nonetheless, there was none of the delight that accompanied last year's win over Illinois at this level.
"The difference is, we weren't satisfied with the way we ended the game," Terence Morris said. "This year, we feel we're a lot better team."
The Terps adjusted to Lonny Baxter's foul trouble, and a box-and-one that Creighton coach Dana Altman threw at Francis. They handled that Bluejays defense, a straight man-to-man, a 2-3 zone and a 1-2-2 press, but they grew tired and bored against Creighton's 3-2 zone at the end.
"We made some bad adjustments," Altman said. "Maryland has a way of taking its game to another level. They got us playing at a tempo we couldn't handle."
Morris, the sophomore forward from Frederick, had his second straight double double, with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Despite all the attention paid him, Francis had 18 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Baxter had a big second half, as the freshman center scored 12 of his 16 after the break.
Laron Profit had a horrible (1-for-11) shooting game, but he and freshman Danny Miller clamped down on Rodney Buford, who took 17 shots and made only five en route to Creighton's career scoring record.
Baxter got his third foul with 7: 57 left in the first half, and Williams went the rest of the half with Morris, three wings and Terrell Stokes or Francis at the point.
Creighton drew within 29-27 on a three by forward Nerijus Karlikanovas with 5: 09 left in the half, but the Terps responded with a devastating tear that featured Morris, fine court play by Miller and a volleyball game on their offensive board.
Miller set up a dunk by Morris, who was fouled. He missed the free throw, but the Terps controlled the ball and set up his three-point play. Francis scored on a putback, Morris added two free throws and freshman Juan Dixon's three-pointer from deep on the left wing made it 41-27 with 2: 09 left in the half.
"That's just a way to go against smaller teams that are quick and can handle the ball," Williams said of the lineup that broke the game open. "It's not really that small. Danny Miller is 6-8, Laron Profit is 6-5 and Steve plays pretty big. It's the quickest team we can put on the floor."
Baxter returned in the second half and scored on three of Maryland's first four possessions. The lead was 62-41 on a three by Francis with 11: 17 left, and the Terps were still comfortably ahead on a Baxter dunk, which made it 67-49 with 7: 42 left.
They stopped attacking the basket, however, got careless and gave hope to a team that came back from a 13-point deficit to beat Louisville in the first round. The Bluejays' 3-2 zone lulled the Terps to sleep, and Williams surely took note of the St. John's tactic that disrupted Indiana: a zone.
"We're a good team," Williams said, "but there isn't a team that can glide once you get to this level. Hopefully, we learned that."
Creighton Min FG FT R A PF Pts
Buford 33 5-17 2-2 6 2 4 13
Johnson 19 4-6 5-10 5 0 3 13
Swenson 23 2-5 1-2 5 1 5 5
Walker 25 6-7 0-0 4 1 5 15
Sears 36 1-9 0-0 2 7 2 3
Brandon 27 1-8 6-6 2 4 2 9
Haynes 7 0-0 0-0 3 0 2 0
Karlikanovas 26 2-9 0-0 1 0 0 5
Kolder 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Bates 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Klein 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Huss 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Totals 200 21-61 14-20 28 15 23 63
Percentages: FG -- .344, FT -- .700. 3-point goals: 7-32, .219 (Buford 1-6, Swenson 0-1, Walker 3-4, Sears 1-8, Brandon 1-6, Karlikanovas 1-7). Team rebounds: 4. Blocked shots: 5 (Swenson 3, Johnson, Buford). Turnovers: 19 (Karlikanovas 4, Walker 4, Brandon 3, Swenson 3, Johnson 2, Sears 2, Haynes). Steals: 14 (Brandon 6, Sears 5, Buford, Karlikanovas, Swenson). Technical fouls: None.
Maryland Min FG FT R A PF Pts
Profit 32 1-11 4-4 2 2 3 6
Morris 36 6-11 7-8 12 5 3 20
Baxter 14 6-9 4-7 4 0 4 16
Stokes 31 1-2 0-0 5 3 3 3
Francis 36 5-10 7-9 13 2 2 18
Dixon 13 3-5 0-0 1 0 1 7
Miller 24 1-6 2-2 4 1 3 4
Mardesich 14 0-2 1-2 3 0 2 1
Totals 200 23-56 25-32 44 13 21 75
Percentages: FG -- .411, FT -- .781. 3-point goals: 4-13, .308 (Profit 0-2, Morris 1-4, Stokes 1-1, Francis 1-2, Dixon 1-2, Miller 0-2). Team rebounds: 4. Blocked shots: 5 (Morris 3, Francis, Mardesich). Turnovers: 23 (Francis 7, Miller 4, Morris 4, Stokes 4, Mardesich 2, Profit 2). Steals: 12 (Francis 4, Miller 3, Morris 3, Stokes 2). Technical fouls: None. Halftime: Maryland 45, Creighton 32. A: 14,959.
Pub Date: 3/14/99