College Park, Md. ? Although he hardly qualifies as an expert on the subject, Maryland coach Gary Williams knows what it takes to beat Duke.

“Sometimes, your best defense doesn’t always stop them. So you have to continue to score,” Williams said. “We’ve done that on a consistent basis, but not for 40 minutes every game.”

The Terrapins are 2-11 against Duke since January 1997, losing three games last year in which they held double-digit leads. In each of those defeats, Maryland’s offense went through pivotal dry spells that enabled the Blue Devils to overcome a sizable deficit.

“Whenever we let up, that’s when they attack,” Terps center Lonny Baxter said. “We can’t let up for one second. We’ve just got to play the whole 40 minutes.”

Not 39 minutes. Certainly not 20, as was the case earlier this season, when Maryland led 49-48 at halftime before falling 99-78.

“We know we can beat those guys. We compete each time we play them,” guard Juan Dixon said. “We just make a couple of mistakes and let the game slip away.”

Third-ranked Maryland will seek to reverse that trend today against No. 1 Duke in a game that could go a long way toward determining the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season champion.

A victory would put the Terrapins (20-3, 10-1) in position for their first outright league title since 1980. Duke (23-1, 11-1) is the formidable obstacle standing in the way.

When the teams played last year at Maryland, the Terrapins put on a dazzling show for the first 39 minutes. But the Blue Devils staged a 10-0 run over the final 54 seconds of regulation and won 98-96 in overtime.

Although Maryland avenged the defeat at Duke one month later, the Blue Devils have since rattled off three straight victories in one of college basketball’s most heated rivalries.

The Blue Devils bounced Maryland from last year’s ACC tournament and then out of the Final Four, rallying from a 22-point deficit in a 95-84 victory that served as a prelude to a win over Arizona for the national championship.

Maryland is 12-0 at Cole Field House this season, but there’s no homecourt advantage when playing Duke. During the past four-plus seasons, the Terrapins are 0-4 against the Blue Devils and 63-3 against everyone else.