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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Once deemed too frail to play major college
basketball, Juan Dixon proved strong enough to carry top-seeded
Maryland back to the NCAA Tournament's final 16.
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Maryland did what was expected -- the Terps have too much talent and played in front of a home crowd at the MCI Arena. But Maryland could have played Wisconsin anywhere and dominated with superior athletic ability and size inside (in Lonny Baxter and Chris Wilcox). Juan Dixon led Maryland with 29 points and surpassed Len Bias as the career scoring leader at Maryland.
Wisconsin started strong, controlling tempo and and jumping to an early lead. But once Maryland got its transition game going and made it an up-tempo contest, it was all Terps. The Terps now move on the Sweet 16 to face Kentucky. What a Goliath vs. Goliath matchup ... if the real Kentucky team shows up, this will be a real barn-burner, baby!
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Dixon scored 29 points to break two school scoring records,
lifting Maryland past eighth-seeded Wisconsin 87-57 Sunday in the
second round of the East Regional.
Chris Wilcox had 18 points for Maryland (28-4), which will next
face fourth-seeded Kentucky on Friday in Syracuse, N.Y. In reaching
the final 16 for the sixth time in nine years, the Terrapins
matched the 1998-99 team for most wins in a season and set a school
mark for margin of victory in an NCAA Tournament game.
Dixon was the catalyst. Scoring 29 points in a second straight
game, the 170-pound senior guard sparked a 22-5 run at the outset
of the second half to help Maryland pull away.
In the process, Dixon broke Len Bias' school record for career
points and eclipsed Bias' mark for career points in the NCAA
Tournament. Dixon has 2,172 points overall and 197 in his four
trips to the tourney.
Not bad for a kid who needed a redshirt season just to put on
enough weight to survive in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
"It's a great accomplishment, especially in my situation,"
Dixon said. "Coming into Maryland, a lot of people knocked Gary
Williams for recruiting me. I just wanted to go out there and prove
a lot of those critics wrong. I worked hard the last four years."
Dixon was 10-for-19 from the field, including 4-for-7 from
3-point range, and 5-of-6 on free throws. He also had five
rebounds, three assists and two steals.
"Juan's certainly capable of scoring the way he did the last
two days here, but the thing with Juan is that he gives you
everything else during that time, too," Williams said. "Juan's
always stealing the basketball, getting key rebounds, things like
that."
Wisconsin (19-13), which tied for the Big Ten regular-season
title, closed its first season under coach Bo Ryan by losing two of
three. The Badgers were seeking to duplicate their tournament run
of two years ago, when they advanced to the Final Four after
defeating No. 1-seeded Arizona in the second round.
Charlie Wills scored 17 points for Wisconsin, which absorbed its
worst beating in 18 NCAA tournament games.
|  | | Juan Dixon scored 29 points, breaking two school records -- career points and career tourney points -- in leading the Terps to the Sweet 16. |
"Once it came down, it came down pretty hard," Ryan said.
The Badgers had no answers for Dixon or a defense that caused
them to miss 28 of their first 40 shots while Maryland built a
60-35 lead.
Up 38-30 at halftime, the Terrapins pulled away early in the
second half with a dominating burst that thrilled the sellout crowd
at the MCI Center, which was filled predominantly with Terrapins
fans.
"When you're away from home you really don't have anybody to
help pick you up as much," Ryan said. "I think we were
outnumbered a little bit that way."
Dixon scored 15 points in the 22-5 spree, including a pair of
3-pointers and a layup off a steal.
"He's a great shooter. He just finds way to score," Maryland
forward Byron Mouton said. "When he's hitting shots like that and
we're playing great defense, that's how you win by 30."
The game was tied five times in the opening 13 minutes before
Maryland used its inside-outside attack to take control.
After Lonny Baxter and Wilcox scored in the lane to make it
23-all, Drew Nicholas and Steve Blake hit successive 3-pointers to
put Maryland ahead for good.
Wills stopped the 10-point run with a layup before Dixon topped
Bias' record with a 3-pointer for a 32-25 lead. Minutes later,
Dixon hit a jumper and added two free throws to cap a 19-5 spree
and put the Terrapins up by 10.
At halftime, though, Maryland was hardly satisfied.
"The first half, we struggled," Mouton said. "We weren't
running our plays, not getting in right position on defense. There
was a lot of negative stuff going on the locker room, but we sort
of smiled at each other and got positive."
Then came the second half, when the Terrapins asserted
themselves.
"As soon as we got on the court we got on that run," Mouton
said, "and we didn't look back."
Only ahead. To Kentucky.
"We just have to bring our 'A game.' If we do that, we'll be
fine," Wilcox said.
The first priority is bringing Dixon along for the ride.
"As Juan Dixon goes," Wisconsin forward Travon Davis said,
"so go the Maryland Terrapins." | 
