Maryland didn’t need Sunday’s slow start against 16-seeded Coppin State to remind them not to take any team lightly. Last year’s second round 89-78 loss as a two seed to seven-seeded Mississippi still feels like yesterday to many of the players.

“It’s still on the back of our minds,” said senior forward Crystal Langhorne. “But we don’t want to focus on it too much.”

The top-seeded Terrapins (31-3) will host eight-seeded Nebraska (21-11) today at Comcast Center in College Park. A win would get the Terrapins into the Sweet 16 for just the second time since 1992.

Maryland dominated down low in their opening round 80-66 victory, out-rebounding Coppin State 42-26 in the game. The Terrapins know they will need a similar effort tonight in order to advance.

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“We feel like we’re one of the best rebounding teams in the country,” said Langhorne, who had 25 points and 12 rebounds Sunday. “Our coaches always stress for us to go to the glass, and that’s what we tried to do [Sunday].”

Tonight, Maryland will need to slow down 6-foot-2 Nebraska forward Kelsey Griffin, a first team All-Big 12 player who averages 15.1 points per game and scored 26 points in the Cornhuskers’ 61-58 first round win over Xavier.

“Nebraska has a great inside post presence,” Terrapins coach Brenda Frese said. “They’re smart and they’re very patient and they make very good decisions with the basketball. They’re not going to turn it over a lot.”

This scenario is far different that against Coppin State, which had only one player over six feet tall. So, when Eagles 6-foot-3 center Whitney Cunningham got into foul trouble Sunday, they could not match up with Langhorne (16.7 ppg, 9.2 rpg) and 6-foot-4 forward Laura Harper (14.5 ppg, 8.8 rpg). Maryland will not have such an advantage against the Cornhuskers, with Griffin and 6-foot-2 shot blocker Danielle Page (2.29 bpg) waiting down low.

“She is one of the most underrated players in the country,” Nebraska coach Connie Yori said of Griffin. “She doesn’t get a lot of notoriety, but the Big 12 people know who she is.”

Junior forward Marissa Coleman has experienced both success and disappointment with the Terrapins, winning a national championship her freshman year in 2006 before being upset in the second round last season. She has learned that no tournament games are easy because no team wants to see its season end.

“We know we’re going to get our opponents’ best games, no matter who we are playing against because it’s the NCAA Tournament,” she said. “Everybody knows it’s one-and-done.”

avitelli@baltimoreexaminer.com