USC Fades in Loss to Maryland

George Raveling’s booming voice echoed down the hallway outside the locker room. For 20 minutes Raveling lectured USC’s basketball team.

He had every right to be upset after watching the Trojans collapse in the final 12 1/2 minutes of a 72-59 loss to Maryland Wednesday night.

Leading, 42-40, after guard Harold Miner, who scored 22 points, hit a three-point jump shot with 12:25 remaining, the Trojans fell apart and Maryland outscored them, 17-6, in the next six minutes.

Although it was sauna-like in Cole Field House, USC was ice cold, missing 10 of its final 18 shots.

“I don’t think the heat was a factor,” Raveling said. “What disappoints me is the manner in which we lost. We didn’t exhibit the kind of basketball that we’re capable of playing.”

Raveling was so flustered after emerging from the locker room that he grabbed the wrong sports jacket on his way to the press room.

“That’s symbolic of the evening, nothing fit,” Raveling said. “The only positive I see in this game is that it happened in our second game of the season. We have to use this game as a bucket of cold water to wake us up and make us realize some things we’re going to have to do to be a better basketball team.

“We certainly were not a team tonight. The rules say you have to put five players out there, so SC had five players out there, but they didn’t have a team out there tonight.”

Shadowed by forward Vince Broadnax and reserve guard Kevin McLinton, who were assigned to him in Maryland’s box-and-one defense, Miner missed 10 of 20 shots. He began forcing shots, missing six of seven three-point attempts.

“I definitely didn’t play well at all,” Miner said. “But you have to take the good with the bad. You can’t play perfect every game. I just have to build on this and move forward.”

Miner wasn’t the only Trojan who played poorly.

USC forward Ronnie Coleman, who had 10 points and 11 rebounds, missed 10 of 15 shots, including a dunk. The Trojans shot only 38.6%.

Point guard Robert Pack missed six of 10 shots and had a team-high five turnovers. Guard Phil Glenn missed five of six shots and forward Calvin Banks missed three of four shots.

“Nobody for SC played well,” Raveling said. “It was just one of those horrible nights that you wish never happened to you.”

After opening the season with a 41-point victory over Chicago State last weekend, Raveling thought the Maryland game would provide him with a better barometer for the Trojans (1-1).

Although USC shot 39.4% in the first half, the Trojans trailed by only 29-28 at halftime because Maryland couldn’t convert its free throws, missing seven of nine.

But the Terrapins took control of the game in the second half.

Guard Walt Williams scored 16 of his 20 points in the second half to lead the Terrapins (1-1). He had 10 points in Maryland’s decisive run, hitting two three-point shots.

Forward Garfield Smith had 19 points and 12 rebounds, and center Cedric Lewis was a force inside with eight points, 14 rebounds and six blocked shots.

Trojan Notes

USC center Yamen Sanders, sidelined with a sprained ankle, didn’t make the trip. Keith Greeley started in place of Sanders, but he was replaced by freshman Mark Boyd at the start of the second half. Boyd had eight points and four rebounds for the Trojans. . . . Maryland guard Matt Roe, a transfer from Syracuse, had 16 points.