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GREENSBORO — The numbers say one thing, and now it's up to UNCG to forget about them.

The Spartans wrapped up their non-conference schedule Sunday at the Greensboro Coliseum, absorbing a 97-63 drubbing at the hands of Maryland. The defeat dropped their overall record to 2-11, their record against ACC teams to 0-6 and their home record to 0-7.

Next they face the portion of the schedule that really matters, 16 games remaining against Southern Conference opponents. First up is a very good Wofford team Thursday followed by Furman Saturday, both games in the Coliseum.

"It would mean nothing, although it would look nice, to be 6-0 against the ACC schools," senior forward Ben Stywall said. "But it would look a lot better to all of us to have a (conference) tournament championship banner up."

The question for the Spartans is, can they shake off any residual effects from being 2-11 and concentrate on being 1-1? Coach Mike Dement believes they can, and pointed to a 73-40 smashing of Samford in a road game as proof.

"We came out of the first three ACC games and played pretty well in our league," he said. "I think our freshmen have grown up a lot. Their growth has been escalated based on who they've had to play. Personally, I'm proud of the way these guys battled."

One of those is 6-foot-8 forward Brian Cole. He had 10 points and two rebounds against the Terps.

"I need to get more physical," Cole said. "Playing these bigger schools has definitely helped my progression, but I've got a long way to go."

Stywall had 17 points and 11 rebounds, his third straight double-double against ACC teams.

"The thing I like about him is he just plays, just goes out there and plays as hard as he can for as long as he's on the court," Maryland coach Gary Williams said.

The Spartans withstood Maryland's pressure and fast pace and were within 35-28 with 7:21 left in the first half. Then they made three of their last 22 shots in the half.

Maryland ran out to a 52-34 halftime lead and hit the Spartans with 13 points in the first 2½ minutes of the second half, nine by Greivis Vasquez, to settle the issue.

"We found out the ACC is a tough league," Dement said with tongue in cheek, "and if you leave them open, they make shots; you don't block them out, they get a rebound; and they can block shots if you take it too far."

Maryland (9-4) was coming off a home loss to William & Mary and split its previous eight games. But the Terps got back to their basics, not worrying about what the Spartans were running.

"We were very concerned, being the last ACC team to play them this year, they'd have no fear," Williams said. "We had to be really ready to go; that's why we had to come out aggressive, and we did."

The Terps will return for the ACC Tournament in March, and Williams said he hoped his team would remember the arena. And the weather would be warmer.

"I also wanted a road game before the ACC started," he said, "because our second game is a road game (at Wake Forest), so we had to stay at the hotel, all that stuff that leads into a road game. That was good for us."

As for the Spartans, they will find out quickly if their non-conference schedule really was good for them.

MARYLAND (9-4) — Milbourne 10-14 1-4 22, Williams 3-9 0-0 6, Hayes 1-2 1-2 3, Mosley 1-2 4-5 6, Vasquez 8-10 6-6 24, Choi 1-2 0-0 2, Levent 0-2 1-2 1, Bowie 5-9 1-1 11, Pearman 0-1 0-0 0, Tucker 3-7 0-0 6, Gregory 2-5 7-7 11, Padgett 2-3 1-1 5. Totals 36-66 22-28 97.

UNCG (2-11) — Bone 1-4 0-0 2, Stywall 3-9 11-16 17, Cole 4-11 2-2 10, VanDussen 4-9 2-2 11, Evans 0-8 5-5 5, Sellers 0-1 0-0 0, Koivisto 2-9 2-2 7, Randall 2-8 0-0 4, Smith 0-3 0-0 0, Toney 1-3 0-0 3, Hardiman 0-0 0-0 0, Brown 2-4 0-0 4. Totals 19-69 22-27 63.

Halftime—Maryland 52-34.
3-point goals—Maryland 3-10 (Vasquez 2-3, Milbourne 1-2, Pearman 0-1, Mosley 0-1, Levent 0-1, Hayes 0-1, Bowie 0-1), UNCG 3-18 (VanDussen 1-2, Toney 1-2, Koivisto 1-5, Cole 0-2, Smith 0-2, Randall 0-2, Evans 0-3).
Fouled out—Cole.
Rebounds—Maryland 54 (Williams 11), UNCG 33 (Stywall 11).
Assists—Maryland 16 (Vasquez 6), UNCG 8 (Stywall, VanDussen 2).
Total fouls—Maryland 19, UNCG 23.
A—3,297.