CHAMPAIGN - After scratching and clawing back from a 15-point deficit, Illinois breathlessly found itself in front of Maryland by five Tuesday night with less than nine minutes to play. It had been a gallant comeback and Warren Carter was sure what would happen next.

"I thought the lead would extend itself," Illinois' senior forward said.

Carter was sure because Illinois always wins at home. The Assembly Hall always makes an ear-splitting racket that carries the Illini over the finish line.

Right? Right?

Wrong.

At the precise time when Illini coach Bruce Weber warned his team "They're trying to give you the game but you have to take it," Maryland took it back.

Freshman Greivis Vasquez scored eight straight points at a key juncture, then Illinois failed to score a basket for a four-minute stretch at the end as 23rd-ranked Maryland won the ACC/Big Ten Challenge game 72-66, ending Illinois' 51-game non-conference home court winning streak, the longest in the nation.

It left an exasperated Illini team sullen and frustrated as it lost for the first time in eight games. And Weber made no attempt to hide his anger.

"Yeah, definitely, it sucks," Weber said. "I'm proud that we have some guys playing through some injuries. We fight back and don't quit. But some things have to change.

"Shot selection has to improve, careless turnovers, finishing around the basket. Those are the things that have to change if we're going to make progress."

Weber was particularly perplexed about another slow start, this time putting Illinois in a 29-14 hole 13 minutes into the game.

"I don't know if we think it's going to happen because it has happened so much," Weber said. "There are only so many clipboards you can break. Sooner or later they have to figure it out on their own. It has to come from within.

"I told them, if you look in the mirror and blame yourself, then we have a chance. If you blame someone else, we don't.

"Some of it is my fault. I didn't do a lot of things well enough. But they also have to take some accountability."

Illinois got respectable numbers from its big men with Shaun Pruitt getting 18 points and 11 rebounds, Warren Carter 13 points and 11 rebounds and freshman center Brian Carlwell eight points and four rebounds.

But Illini guards Chester Frazier, Rich McBride, Jamar Smith and Trent Meacham were a combined 5-for-30 shooting.

Smith played just 15 minutes when Weber realized he was a step slow due to recurring soreness in his sprained ankle. And Baltimore native Frazier, who Weber said played too fast trying to defeat his state school, missed the last two days of practice with a tender foot, an injury he incurred jumping over the Illini bench in the first half against Bradley on Saturday.

That was no excuse, Weber said.

"I told them we shouldn't lose at home, I don't care who is here and who isn't. If you guard and play tough, you shouldn't lose at home. They shot 72 percent in the second half and that shouldn't happen here."

The momentum appeared to favor Illinois when Pruitt dunked a rebound on Carter's missed shot with 8:56 to play, giving the Illini a 48-43 lead.

But the eight-point burst by Vasquez brought Maryland to within one at 52-51 and when Mike Jones and D.J. Strawberry scored back-to-back baskets, the Terrapins were in front 55-52.

McBride tied it at 55 with a 3-pointer but Jones' 3-pointer put Maryland in front for good, 58-55.

"I think once we had the lead, they pretty much out-toughed us," said Carter, who had 13 points and 10 rebounds at halftime but did not score and added just one rebound in the second half.

"Honestly, I just stopped being aggressive," Carter said. "I didn't attack as much and didn't look to shoot as much as I did in the first half."

"We didn't keep our poise and a lot of that is my fault," Pruitt said. "I took the ball out of bounds when I wasn't supposed to and that led to a turnover. We had some other turnovers. It's our fault. We have to accept it."

Maryland may well have won the game in the first five minutes when it barreled to a 16-4 lead. Maryland's hit 11 of its first 19 shots building a 24-10 edge. During the same period, Illinois connected on just five of 18.

"We were tough enough to handle the crowd early and that was one of the keys to the game," Maryland coach Gary Williams said. "This is a tough place to play. That established the fact in our players' mind that we could play."

Finally, Illinois locked in and mounted its comeback, at one point outscoring Maryland 34-14 to take its biggest lead, 48-43 with 8:56 to go in the second half.

Maryland called timeout and that's when Weber issued the warning that went unheeded.

"I told them, 'You're going to have one shot to win the game. They are trying to give it to you and you're not taking it.' I told them they'd come back and that's what happened."

Jones finished with 19 points and Vasquez added 17 to lead 8-0 Maryland, which played without starting forward Ekene Ibekwe, who has a sprained ankle.

It doesn't get any easier for the Illini, who travel to Phoenix to take on 16th-ranked Arizona at 4 p.m., Saturday.