Exree Hipp was out on a limb by himself when he predicted at the start of the season that Maryland would be in the Sweet Sixteen.
He had a big role in making his words came true Saturday.Joe Smith scored 20 points and Hipp had 19 as the Terrapins beat Massachusetts 95-87 in the second round to the NCAA Midwest Regional. The Minutemen became the first No. 2 seed to lose.
"I thought he was nuts," coach Gary Williams said after Maryland's trapping half court defense triggered a second-half run that carried the Terrapins to the win. It avenged a 14-point loss to Massachusetts last Dec. 19.
"I wasn't real pleased," Williams said. "But if you can back up what you say ..."
Maryland trailed by five points at halftime but went to a full-court press in the second half that forced Massachusetts (28-7) into errors and out of its offense. The Terrapins seemed to have the guards constantly in trouble at halfcourt.
"They did a good job of slowing us down and consequently we weren't able to run our offense," said Derek Kellogg, the Massachusetts point guard who played only 12 minutes after throwing up during the pre-game shootaround. "We just were not able to run our half-court offense."
The Terrapins (18-11) advanced to the regional semifinals against Michigan at Dallas on Friday. Maryland shot 70 percent in the second half.
"We were hot today, no doubt about it," Williams said. "We executed our offense very well today. But to get good shots, I thought we played really good defense. We really wanted to stop their penetration."
"We got some shots, some dunks, out of our press and we got some fast break layups. What that does is give you confidence that you can score against a team like UMass, which is what we didn't have the first time. Once you get some confidence as an offensive team, you can make some shots."
Marcus Camby scored 32 points for Massachusetts, many of them off of rebounds.
"He's quick to the basket," Smith said. "He does work hard to try to tip it, tip it, tip it."
Maryland went on an 18-3 run midway through the second half that produced an 82-68 lead with just over seven minutes left on a three-point play by Mario Lucas.
Smith had a couple of dunks during the run and also made a 3-pointer. Duane Simpkins sank two 3-pointers during the run.
Massachusetts couldn't make its 3-pointers as time ran down and was forced to foul.
"They made tough shots. They made scrappy shots. They made easy shots," Minutemen coach John Calipari said. "It was obvious they wanted the game more than we did. There was a time when there was a loose ball and we had two guys there and their guy gets it, we foul him and he makes two free throws. Their press just slowed us down. I couldn't get our guys to attack it. I kept saying `Get it in quick and go' but we just couldn't do it."
Duane Simpkins scored a career high 20 points for Maryland. Lou Roe had 17 and Mike Williams had 13 for Massachusetts.
"This might have been our best game executing our offense," Maryland forward Keith Booth said. "We were just running our plays and getting the ball inside."
"We just didn't have the fire today," Roe said. "We just came out and played basketball instead of competing, and they really kicked our butts."