Terps' Dixon leads Maryland to title game

ATLANTA - Juan Dixon tied a career-high 33 points in Maryland's 97-88 win against Kansas in the second national semifinal Saturday night at the Georgia Dome. He is the leading scorer in the tournament with 27.4 points per game. Dixon has been in double figures in 53 straight games.\nThose are impressive numbers, so much so that it left senior Dane Fife speechless Sunday. Fife, the Big Ten's co-defensive player of the year, will draw the assignment of slowing down Maryland's all-time leading scorer.\n"I have the utmost and amazing respect for Juan Dixon," Fife said. "My former roommate put it best by saying that Juan Dixon is a stud. I think that he is the catalyst for Maryland basketball."\nDixon was Saturday night after the Terrapins (31-4) fell behind 13-2 to the Jayhawks. The Terps looked to Dixon and he poured in 19 first-half points, at times looking as if he simply wouldn't allow Maryland to lose in the same round it did last year when the Terrapins blew a 22-point lead to Duke.\nAlong with seniors Lonny Baxter and Byron Mouton, Dixon makes up a core of experience that has learned from last seasons' disappointing conclusion. \n"I knew that we weren't satisfied with what happened in the Final Four last year," Maryland coach Gary Williams said. "These guys were willing to do whatever it took to get here."\nWhat it has taken is getting used to be the hunted instead of the hunter. Williams is on the cusp of turning around a program that was in turmoil when he got there in 1989 from Ohio State to a perennial national contender. A big reason for Maryland's ascent to the top of college basketball over the past three years is Dixon.\nHis story of losing both his parents while he was growing up has been well publicized, and that experience has helped Dixon become a leader of his team. Until last year, the Terrapins had never been to a Final Four and Williams was fending off a label that said he couldn't win big games.\nDixon has changed that.\n"A lot of great players have come through this program. For us to accomplish two Final Fours two years says a lot about us," Dixon said. "A lot of people counted me out before I even got here. Me not having my parents around, it was a little harder.\n"But I stayed strong and I had (Williams) to help me develop as a person and also as a basketball player."\nThat basketball player has a deadly jump shot that Dixon began to develop as a kid in Baltimore. His ability to score on the perimeter is the perfect compliment to the inside game of Baxter and sophomore forward Chris Wilcox. \nThat balance gave Kansas fits Saturday night, even with Baxter in foul trouble. Wilcox and Tahj Holden helped give Dixon open looks by having presence in the post.\nDixon is used to having to go against the opponents' best defender.\n"It's nothing new to me. I'm just going to go out there and play my game," Dixon said. "I'm not worried at all. I have a lot of confidence in myself. I think I'll be fine."\nNeedless to say, Fife doesn't know where to begin.\n"I am not really sure why he is still playing for Maryland since I think that he should be playing in the pros right now," Fife said. "This is definitely going to be one of the toughest challenges of our careers."\nDixon will be even tougher, especially since he has so much help in the paint. With so much offensive talent, Fife said it won't come down to himself and Dixon. The Terrapins have won 18 of their last 19 games, with the All-American Dixon leading the way most of the time.\nAfter a couple of sub-par defensive games against UNC-Wilmington and Duke, Fife held Oklahoma's Hollis Price to a season-low six points on 1-for-11 shooting in the Hoosiers win Saturday night. \n"I don't think that is going to be the case even if Juan Dixon does get 40 points," Fife said. "It is not going to take one of us, but it is going to take all five of us as a team to win. I don't know how we are going to do that yet, but we have a great coaching staff and they are going to find a way to do it"