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Maryland, the only team in NCAA Tournament history to face the highest possible seed in every round leading up to the championship game, topples Indiana 64-52 for its first national title.
By BRIAN LANDMAN, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 2, 2002
ATLANTA -- Before he returned to his alma mater in 1989, Gary Williams figured Maryland could be a power.
That potential culminated in Monday night's 64-52 win over Indiana and the Terrapin's first national title.
"We've been able to get a team together that has been good enough to compete at the national level," he said.
And then some. Three seniors -- guard Juan Dixon, center Lonny Baxter and forward Byron Mouton -- culminated the lineage that led the program from probation 13 years ago to the title.
After leading the Terrapins to the school's first Final Four a year ago, that trio capped their careers by going a couple steps further before a crowd of 53,406 at the Georgia Dome.
"We had no answer for them," Indiana coach Mike Davis said. "They're physical inside."
Maryland was among the country's highest-scoring teams with 85 a game, but its third-lowest total of the season was good enough to make it the 33rd school to win the national championship and the second straight from the Atlantic Coast Conference after Duke last season.
The loss was the first for Indiana in six national championship game appearances.
Dixon, the senior All-American, hit a clutch 3-pointer after the Hoosiers had taken the lead midway through the second half and made an off-balance baseline jumper over Indiana defensive specialist Dane Fife.
"I was patient and let the game come to me," Dixon said. "I can't put into words what this feels like."
Baxter, selected the most outstanding player of the East Region, followed with a dunk for two of his 15 points. Moments later, Mouton aggressively kept a couple balls alive that led to a layup by junior guard Drew Nicholas and a pair of free throws by tournament MVP Dixon (18 points, five steals) for an insurmountable 58-49 lead with 2:43 left.
All that was left for the Terrapins (32-4) was to cut down the nets.
A powerful statement. Finally.
Not that IU (25-12) made it easy. The Hoosiers, trying to win their sixth national title, had defied the odds repeatedly in their most improbable tournament run. Only three teams with double-digit losses had won it all, most recently Kansas in 1988.
"We don't consider ourselves underdogs, although everybody else does," Fife said before the game. "We believe we can win this basketball game just like we have all season."
The Hoosiers defense certainly bothered the high-scoring Terrapins from the start. With his team leading 6-5, Dixon scored 11 in a 17-6 run that put his team well ahead midway through the opening half.
But even with Indiana sophomore forward Jared Jeffries on the bench with two fouls and the Hoosiers hitting 2 of 6 from the line, including misfires on the front end of a pair of one-and-one situations, the Terrapins couldn't pull away.
"We had to really grind it," Williams said. "It took us a good 25 minutes before we really ran our offense."
Indiana junior forward/guard Kyle Hornsby hit a 3-pointer, sophomore guard A.J. Moye came up with a steal and a layup and Coverdale hit an offbalance bank shot at the buzzer to cut the deficit to 31-25 at the half.
The Hoosiers had to feel somewhat fortunate. They had shot at least 50 percent in their five previous NCAA games but made just 9 of 28 shots (32.1 percent) in the first half. However, they continued their torrid 3-point shooting (5 of 8).
The Hoosiers also were down 13 at the half against Duke and four against Oklahoma in the national semifinal. Six points? Nothing for these guys.
Consecutive 3-pointers from Fife, who had limited Dixon to one shot and no points for the last 10 minutes of the first half, brought IU to within 37-33 in the opening minutes of the second half.
A Hornsby 3-pointer and a tap-in by junior forward Jeff Newton, the hero of the Oklahoma win with a career-high 19 points off the bench, tied it at 40 with 11:44 left.
The Hoosiers took the lead for the first time on a Jeffries layin with 9:53 to play, but as he has done so often Dixon answered with a 3-pointer 11 seconds later, as he and his fellow seniors took control of the game.
Just like Williams always figured.