Maryland Loses–ACC No Longer Undefeated!
After playing 6 nights of games without a loss, the Atlantic Coast Conference suffered its first defeat of the season today–as Maryland was shredded by Alabama, 62-42. For Maryland, losing to Alabama is not altogether surprising because the Crimson Tide are ranked at #16. However, the margin of victory was certainly disappointing.
This is particularly true given that neither team was particularly impressive offensively. As a team, Alabama only made 42.9% of its shots from the field. Amazingly, they were actually 43.8% on three-point shots. Just one of those inexplicable statistics that you see in a game. It defies logic that a team would shoot better from 20 feet than from 0-19 feet. And that is the winning team.
In order to lose to Alabama, Maryland had to shoot a woeful 26.5% from the field and 16.7% from three-point land. Even the charity stripe was not so charitable, as Maryland converted only 56% of its 25 free throws. All in all, it is plainly apparent why they only managed 42 points.
At least some credit goes to Alabama though. After three games, he Crimson Tide have held their opponents to a mere 143 points (46 PPG).
The upshot of this result is that the ACC had finally suffered its first loss of the season. It can take pride in lasting as long as it did. And the conference still has a ways to go to catch up to the rest of the major conferences.
The Confidential 