DURHAM, N.C. -- Maryland will be fine, even with losing to Duke. The Terps came into Cameron and nearly beat the Blue Devils, making big-time shots, battling on the boards and showing that they have tremendous heart to win in any building.

	Duke's Shelden Williams, left, continued his improved play Wednesday night.

The defending champs are still a national title contender, and certainly have as much experience if not more than any team in the country to get to New Orleans. It especially showed when they played with five seniors on the court to make a late run in the 75-70 loss here Wednesday night.

But the Blue Devils weren't as sure about themselves coming into this game.

They've got no self-esteem issues now.

"This was a must win for us,'' Duke junior point guard Chris Duhon said. "We looked at this from a different perspective, not just the ACC standings. This game was about setting the tone for the rest of the season to see if we were a consistent team, be able to play defense and get over the hump.''

Duke had plenty of questions heading into this "must-win game.'' Sure, the Blue Devils lost in double-overtime at Wake Forest last Thursday night. They trounced Virginia on the road last Saturday.

But this was different. This was Maryland, a team that has no fear coming into this historic hall. The Terps had won two of three games in Durham and were never rattled.

"We needed to know can we rebound the ball, can we defend the passing lanes, can we execute the way we want and can we be men,'' Duke senior Dahntay Jones said.

They answered all the questions in the affirmative.

Duke outrebounded Maryland by six after the Terps dominated the Blue Devils on the backboard in the first meeting by 11. Maryland was also coming off a 20-board advantage in a convincing win over the top rebounding team in the nation -- Wake Forest.

Duke also got the balance it sorely lacked throughout its rocky first half in the ACC -- at least by the Blue Devils' standards when they lost four league road games. Freshman Shelden Williams didn't turn off a switch that has been on for him the past four games. He followed a 20-point, eight-board game with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Williams, who entered the game with 25 boards in three games after getting one rebound in the previous three, played with more authority than at any point in the season.

Freshman J.J. Redick, who is finally over a bum ankle that sent him into a minor slump (2-for-10 against Georgia Tech, 2-for-10 on 3s against Clemson) scored 17 points with four 3s. Jones again was the top scorer with 21 and Duhon had a solid floor game with three assists and no turnovers. The Blue Devils also had 13 blocks, six by Williams.

Jones said the Blue Devils needed this win for their big men, who had been called "soft,'' he said.

"It came down to toughness,'' Duhon said. "We haven't been tough in a lot of games and we have settled for jump shots, instead of driving the ball. We've let teams outrebound us and not let the inside guys touch the ball. Our big guys weren't feeling like they were part of the offense.''

And they weren't being as demonstrative on the bench. That changed in the second half.

"(Williams) wanted the ball,'' Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "One timeout in the second half, he said, 'Coach, can I say something?' He said, 'Listen, I was getting the ball in the first half for about six minutes I haven't touched it. Give me the ball.' As soon as he said that all the guys said, 'Yeah!' You want a guy to say something like that and mean it.''

Earlier in the day, Maryland coach Gary Williams said Duke would make a run in the NCAAs. He said this team is far from peaking and was still really good. The respect was mutual. Even though these are two bitter rivals, they know each other very well and each expect the other to be around deep into March.

But first the league race has to be decided and the Blizzard of 2003 could have a say in the outcome.

Maryland beat Wake Forest Monday after waiting to play a postponed game from Sunday. The Terps didn't know they would be playing at 5 p.m. ET until after their noon shootaround. Williams said the Terps nearly stopped preparing for Wake Forest and started to get into Duke preparation.

But they won the game before a raucous crowd, mostly students, in a game that wasn't televised. The win put Maryland in a tie with Wake Forest in the loss column for the lead. But Maryland had some travel issues to get to Duke and couldn't fly out of Baltimore-Washington International Airport and had to bus over an hour to Dulles International Airport in Virginia because their chartered airplane couldn't land at BWI. The Terps didn't get into Durham until late Tuesday.

Williams said it was a like an NBA schedule for the Terps and he said at the half that it caught up to them midway through the first half when Maryland slumped a bit.

Meanwhile, Wake Forest was stuck at the Greenbelt Marriott Hotel from Saturday until midday Tuesday. The Demon Deacons got home to Winston-Salem late Tuesday, were in class Wednesday and then had to leave for Atlanta on Wednesday night for Thursday's game at Georgia Tech. If Wake Forest loses to the Yellow Jackets then no one would fault the team if it was fatigued.

A Wake Forest loss would create a three-way tie atop the ACC with Duke and Maryland. Duke could have had travel issues were not for a quick decision by Coach K and the team's bus driver. Following the win over Virginia, the Blue Devils' chartered plane couldn't take off out of Charlottesville because of de-icing issues. So, the Blue Devils asked the bus driver if he would take the team home. He agreed and they made the nearly six-hour drive to Durham. Had the Blue Devils stayed in Charlottesville, they likely would have been stranded until Tuesday like ESPN announcer Mike Patrick, who did that game.

"We're very thankful to the bus driver,'' Duhon said. "He didn't have to do it but he was willing to and we credit him for getting us home safely and giving us another day of rest and another day of preparation.''

Maryland barely had one. Had the Terps beaten the Blue Devils, Duke's psyche would have been shot.

"We would have been unsure what team we have,'' Duhon said. "This will gives us the push we need to go forward into the ACC (and NCAA Tournament).''

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.