Maryland Still Can’t Figure Out Duke

This was supposed to be the year that Maryland finally made a stand at home against Duke.

The fourth-ranked Terrapins (13-2, 1-1) managed to stay even with their Atlantic Coast Conference rivals for 20 minutes Sunday. Then No. 2 Duke, led by Elton Brand and Trajan Langdon, pulled away to a surprisingly easy 82-64 victory before a stunned sellout crowd at College Park, Md.

The addition of stellar guard Steve Francis to an already solid front court had the Terrapins thinking they could end a skid of 11 losses in 13 home games against Duke, including a 32-point lashing last year.

Instead, Duke (13-1, 2-0) reeled off 13 straight points early in the second half to dispel any thoughts Maryland had of terminating its string of frustration against the Blue Devils.

“To be honest I didn’t think we were going to lose. A loss like that is a shock to me,” said Francis, who failed to make a basket in the second half.

“We knew they were going to feel they’re better than us and even further motivated by the way we played up here last year,” said Langdon, who scored 12 of his 16 points after halftime. “We won, so that showed we were better than them today.”

Again.

Except for the timing, Duke’s recipe for success was virtually identical to the formula that worked so well last year at Maryland, when the Blue Devils made their first four three-point shots and turned an early 14-point lead into a rout.

No. 3 Cincinnati vs. Marquette--Heavy snow and ice forced the postponement of Cincinnati’s home game against Marquette. The game was rescheduled for tonight.

No. 8 Indiana 62, Illinois 53--The Hoosiers turned 18 turnovers into 21 points, and Luke Recker scored 23 points at Bloomington, Ind.

After dropping the Big Ten season-opener to Iowa, the Hoosiers (14-3, 1-1) rebounded with their first conference victory of the season. The win also broke the Hoosiers’ three-game losing streak against the Illini (8-5, 0-1).

Down, 38-37, with 11:54 left, Recker made three three-pointers in a row and Kirk Haston’s jumper completed an 11-1 Indiana run.

No. 11 Purdue vs. No. 16 Minnesota--The game at Purdue was postponed because of snow. It was not immediately rescheduled.

No. 21 Iowa 52, Northwestern 48--Joey Range scored a season high 16 points as the Hawkeyes rallied to beat the Wildcats at Evanston, Ill.

It was the Hawkeyes’ ninth straight victory and improved their record to 11-1, 2-0 in the Big Ten.

Evan Eschmeyer gave the Wildcats a 43-32 lead with 9:43 left to play.

But the Hawkeyes slowly came back as Northwestern (7-3, 0-1) went scoreless for the next five minutes. The Wildcats had trouble with the full-court press, especially inbounding the ball over the final six minutes.

WOMEN

No. 2 Tennessee 68, No. 15 Rutgers 54--The Lady Vols stretched their winning streak to 10 games with the victory at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

With All-American Chamique Holdsclaw looking just ordinary, Tennessee (11-1) got big games from freshman Michelle Snow and sophomore Semeka Randall to wear down Rutgers. The loss ended a four-game winning streak for the Scarlet Knights (10-3).

Randall led all scorers with 18 points and Snow finished with 16. Holdsclaw, averaging 21.6 points, had eight.

No. 3 Purdue vs Ohio State--The game, which was to be hosted by Ohio State, was postponed because of snow and ice. No rescheduled date was announced.

No. 4 Georgia 85, No. 14 Alabama 70--Kelly Miller scored 27 points at Athens, Ga., as the Lady Dogs (12-0, 1-0) opened Southeastern Conference play with a win.

Dominique Canty led Alabama (10-4, 0-2) with 21 points.

No. 12 Penn State 72, Minnesota 43--The Nittany Lions (9-2, 1-1) held the Gophers (5-8, 0-3) scoreless for eight minutes in the second half of a Big Ten matchup at Minneapolis.

No. 13 Old Dominion 94, George Mason 69--Mery Andrade scored 19 points to lead the Lady Monarchs (8-2, 2-0) to an easy victory over the Patriots (3-7, 0-1) in a Colonial Athletic Association game at Fairfax, Va.

No. 19 Nebraska 83, Missouri 67--Nicole Kubik and Brooke Schwartz scored 16 points each to lead the Cornhuskers (12-2, 1-0) past the Tigers (7-4, 0-1) at Lincoln, Neb., in the Big 12 Conference opener for both teams.

No. 20 Florida 77, Kentucky 63--Tonya Washington scored a game-high 26 points to lead the Gators (12-4, 2-0) over the Wildcats (10-3, 11-1) in a Southeastern Conference game at Lexington, Ky.

No. 23 Memphis 78, North Carolina Charlotte 53--Tamika Whitmore scored 24 points to lead the Lady Tigers as Memphis (10-2, 2-1) routed North Carolina Charlotte (3-9, 1-2) in a Conference USA game at Memphis, Tenn.