CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. --- Jordan Williams stood outside Maryland's locker room on Saturday, answering many of the same questions he and the Terrapins faced so often throughout an increasingly predictable season.
Maryland's 76-72 loss at Conte Forum held up the two most telling trends in the Terps' season, running themes that show no sign of abating even as a mere month separates the present from Selection Sunday.
The Terps are 16-1 against teams outside the top 50 of the RPI, 0-8 against those inside the top 50.
And Maryland is 14-2 in games decided by at least 10 points, and 2-7 in contests with a single-digit spread.
"We have to get tougher," a glum Williams said after a 12-point, eight-rebound outing. "That's the main thing. Toughness is the key. The day we become tougher is the day we become better."
For so much of the season, it seemed like a question of when that would happen. Sure, the closes losses piled up early. Pittsburgh. Illinois. Temple. Boston College. Even the January trips to Duke and Villanova. There was hope to be gleaned from each setback, and rightfully so.
But it's now more than three months since the season opener, a full 86 days since Maryland (16-9) absorbed its first loss of the season. There are many more sunsets in this (and every) team's past than its future. By now, the die isn't necessarily cast, but it sure isn't difficult to envision what the final product will be in the end.
Forward Dino Gregory, guard Sean Mosley and coach Gary Williams all touched on the significance of defense on Friday, well aware Boston College (16-9, 6-5 ACC) left them in tatters in the teams' first meeting.
The on-court response? Yielding 31 points to the perennially overlooked Reggie Jackson, the worst individual scorching Maryland absorbed since Wayne Ellington had 34 points for North Carolina a little more than two years ago.
So much for defense, even if Jackson was going to have a solid day without Maryland's breakdowns.
"He did --- you can't deny that," Gary Williams said, acknowledging Jackson's career-best outing. "At the same time, we had things we didn't do defensively that are supposed to stop that. He's a very good player. He's had other nights like that. We just didn't do what we were supposed to do in certain situations. He's a good enough player to make you pay for it."
While Jackson was responsible for much of Maryland's misery, the Terps were culpable as well. They trailed by as many as eight in the first half, hastily frittered away a three-point lead after the break and surrendered a 10-0 run over nearly three minutes in the middle of the second half.
The highlight of the drought was arguably an offensive foul on Terrell Stoglin with 8:08 to go, a call that rendered Williams so irate he used half of a timeout a minute later to convey his substantial displeasure to official Les Jones.
By then Maryland trailed by eight, and the timeout did little good for the Terps' defense; Jackson drilled a 3-pointer on the Eagles' next possession to push he lead to 11.
And that, effectively, was that. Sure, Maryland gamely pulled within three more times. Boston College had 3-pointers to reply to the first two occasions; the final horn was an abrupt answer to the third.
"We still haven't found out what it is to get over that hump and win those tough games," Jordan Williams said.
And maybe the Terps never will. Maryland has six games remaining, and Gregory dutifully noted three are at home and three are away from Comcast Center. Based on the course of the season, Maryland will beat the four teams outside the top 50 (Virginia Tech, N.C. State, Miami and Virginia) and find a way to lose close decisions to Florida State and North Carolina. Such is the trend.
That would make for a 20-win season devoid of a signature victory, a resume that would scream "Destination: Madison Square Garden" even with the assistance of a 68-team field. Gary Williams refused to view Saturday as a missed opportunity, instead regretting the home loss to the Eagles precisely two months earlier.
However the next month unfolds, the latest loss to Boston College makes the present-day message clear: There's better reason than ever to wonder if Maryland has a truly memorable moment in it this season.
"It's just little things, like defensive lapses," Gregory said. "It's kind of a recurring thing that keep on happening. Besides, we feel like we can win these games. It's just a matter of time."
Unless, of course, time runs out in the not-too-distant future.
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