He Had the Inside Stuff on Gooden

ATLANTA —  Chris Wilcox took offense to a television report he saw Saturday afternoon in which Kansas All-American forward Drew Gooden proclaimed himself and teammate Nick Collison the best big men in the country.

The Maryland sophomore, who would be guarding Gooden in the Terrapins’ national semifinal game against the Jayhawks, used Gooden’s boast as motivation.

So when the 6-foot-10, 230-pound Gooden went up for his first shot, the 6-10, 220-pound Wilcox promptly swatted the ball away.

And when Gooden went up for his next shot, Wilcox and his massive wingspan replayed the event as he coolly rejected the Jayhawk again.

Same thing happened a few minutes later.

In all, Wilcox had blocked Gooden’s first three shot attempts in the game’s first 4:33. It was a good thing for Maryland, too.

Without Wilcox’s block party, and had Gooden’s first three shots gone in, Kansas would have run out to a 19-4 lead. Instead, Maryland was able to claw back from an early 11-point deficit to pull out a 97-88 victory that propelled the Terrapins into Monday night’s title game against surprising Indiana.

“I just wanted to show [Gooden] that anything can happen on any given night,” Wilcox said. “I outplayed him and I wish him the best. I just played hard and great defense on him.”

Wilcox said he was with Maryland center Lonny Baxter at the team hotel earlier in the day when they saw Gooden’s claim on ESPN.

“After seeing that TV show, we just had to show them who the two best big men were,” Wilcox said. “It just shows you that you shouldn’t take anyone lightly.”

Coach Gary Williams said that Wilcox’s emotional spark kept the Terrapins in the game early.

“Anything good that you can get when you’re down 13-2 is definitely a good thing,” Williams said.

“I think [Wilcox] really picked us up emotionally with those blocks. He does those types of things for us.”

Besides blocking shots, and with Maryland trailing 13-2, Wilcox also kick-started the Terrapins offensively with a thunderous dunk at the 15:48 mark. The basket ignited a 24-12 Maryland rally that ended with a Juan Dixon three-point basket, giving the Terrapins their first lead at 26-25 with 7:22 remaining in the half.

Maryland would never trail again.

“I think that set the tone,” said Wilcox, who had 18 points, nine rebounds and four blocks in 26 minutes.

“That was a great motivation for our team.”

His teammates agreed, especially Baxter, whose slack down low was picked up by Wilcox.

“Chris came up big defensively,” said Baxter, who fouled out and finished with only four points in 14 minutes. “When he takes over like that, he can’t be stopped.”

Wilcox limited Gooden to four first-half points.

Gooden, who finished with 15 points but didn’t get going until the Jayhawks trailed by 17 points, professed his innocence in inciting Wilcox.

“I was misquoted on that,” he said. “I said that ... but earlier, before the season. It’s not something I said [recently].”

Gooden also claimed that Wilcox blocking his shot early and often did not alter his mind-set or his game plan.

“It didn’t affect me,” he said. “I was still aggressive and going after him but I didn’t get the ball where I wanted, didn’t get in a groove.”

Credit Wilcox and his pride.

“I don’t know what he was thinking,” Wilcox said of Gooden. “I would think that getting your shot blocked would intimidate you. But whatever it takes to get my team motivated, I’ll do it.”