Jordan Williams, Greivis Vasquez and the rest of the Terps couldn't stop the Tribe when they needed to Wednesday night. Photo credit: The AP.

The numbers alone provide a glimpse at why the Terp men’s basketball team couldn’t quite catch William & Mary in the second half of Wednesday’s 83-77 loss at Comcast Center.

The Tribe hit 47.1 percent of their field goal attempts. The six first half three pointers helped put them in a great position. Shooting 23 second half free throws helped them salt away the win after the lead had ballooned to as much as 16 points in the final minutes.

Even if William & Mary didn’t hoist or make as many three-pointers as they have averaged this season, the visitors seemed comfortable and in control all night-often quickly answering the Terps’ biggest buckets with one of their own.

Coach Gary Williams said his team understood the challenges brought by a veteran and efficient William & Mary squad. But even if they they thought they knew what was coming, it seemed like they never quite figured out Tony Shaver’s version of the Princeton offense. The Tribe’s abundance of easy second half baskets as the Terps tried in vain to fluster them were proof enough of that.

Even though Williams emphasized team defense during the Terps’ 10-day break for final exams earlier this month, it’s pretty clear his team took a step back on Wednesday night.

Here’s some more thoughts, straight from the mouths of Terps:

Coach Gary Williams: “We knew exactly what they were going to do, and we couldn’t stop them to their credit, and they stopped us.”

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As pointed out on the first page of today’s men’s basketball notes page, the Terps will play 12 teams this season that are currently receiving votes in this week’s Associated Press poll.

One of those is the Tribe of William & Mary, tonight’s opposition.

The home team will put its three-game losing streak on the line in a tough match-up against the CAA upstart.

Coach Gary Williams has had this date circled on his figurative calendar since the Terps fell to then-No. 3 Villanova on Dec. 6, essentially assuring it would finish its non-conference schedule without a resume-building victory. At the time, Williams mentioned this game.

Yesterday, Williams and his players again made it known that the Tribe won’t be sneaking up on them in this one. Tonight, his squad will get the chance to knock off a team that has won eight straight and is just starting to gain some national attention.

As of Sunday night, the Tribe (8-2) is ranked 7th in RPI thanks to key wins against Wake Forest, Richmond and VCU, according to www.collegerpi.com. The Terps (8-3) checked in at 95th at that point, with their best win coming against Indiana.

It’s probably not fair to call the Terps underdogs heading into this contest, but it should be an interesting match-up.

Guard Greivis Vasquez, who is a single field goal away from surpassing 1,700 total points in his career, will need to continue his recent hot-streak that’s included 24.3 points per game in the team’s last three contests. Perimeter defense will also be a point to watch against the Tribe, which is off to its best start in more than 30 years.

Guard Sean Mosley, who missed Sunday’s win against Florida Atlantic, is in uniform and is currently warming up with the rest of his teammates about 20 minutes until game-time. Mosley was dressed against the Owls as well, but yesterday, Williams was optimistic Mosley will be ready to go.

It doesn’t look like there will be anywhere close to a full house here at Comcast Center on this second-to-last night of 2009, but it’s slowly starting to fill up.

Check back for more later, here and at www.diamondbackonline.com.

Eric Detweiler is The Diamondback’s Terrapin Men’s Basketball Team beat writer. He can be reached at edetweilerdbk@gmail.com. You can follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/edetweiler.