It's an annual rite of passage for Maryland basketball these days. Every season in early December the team travels to D.C. to play in the BB&T Classic, and every season they come away with a disappointing result. After losses to George Washington and Notre Dame in the past two seasons, the Verizon Center was once again unkind. This time the result was a loss to Virginia Commonwealth to fall to 2-7 in the event over the past five years.
Maryland played what was - by far - its worse defensive game of the season, allowing better than 1.11 points per possession. The Terrapin backcourt was torched in both halves by their VCU counterparts, first by Jamal Shuler and then by '07 NCAA Tournament hero Eric Maynor. Maryland went to its little used zone defense which the Rams effectively busted with threes, shooting 6 of 10 in the first half. After switching back to the man-to-man, Maynor - who didn't have a field goal in the first half - put 23 points on the board to help VCU pull away from a tie game at halftime.
Greivis Vasquez and James Gist once again had a subpar game, combining to shoot 7-24 from the field with 8 turnovers. Boom Osby was the star of the game for the losing team, scoring 17 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Cliff Tucker continued to put together a case for more playing time, scoring 14 points to go with 7 rebounds and 2 assists in just 14 minutes.
The team's next opponent will be a local one, as Morgan State comes to the Comcast Center for the first time ever. The two teams last played in 1994 with the Joe Smith-led Terrapins rolling to a 138-80 win in Cole Field House.
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