A Walk On The Court With Terence Morris
8/27/1999 8:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Aug. 27, 1999
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - All-America forward Terence Morris took some time out of his last week of summer to answer of couple of one-on-one questions. Morris spoke about he admiration for Penny Hardaway of the Phoenix Suns and what it's like to play for Terp head coach Gary Williams.
Morris begins his junior year next week and is looking forward to the start of basketball practice on Oct. 16. The Terps then open their regular season as they play host to San Francisco in the first round of the Preseason NIT on Nov. 17.
Morris averaged 15.3 points and a team leading 7.1 rebounds as a sophomore last season. He was an All-ACC first-team selection and is the only returning All-ACC first team player for the 1999-2000 season.
Morris became only the only the fourth sophomore in school history to earn All-ACC first-team honors and finished fifth in the voting for ACC Player of the Year in 1999. He is among the most versatile players in the ACC and was the only conference player to finish among the league's top 10 in field-goal percentage (third), blocked shots (third), free-throw percentage (fourth), rebounds (eighth), scoring (10th) and steals (10th) during the 1998-99 season. He was an all-tournament team selection at the Puerto Rico Shootout, as he averaged 14.3 points, 8.7 rebounds and shot 70.8 percent from the field (17-of-24). In addition, Morris enters his junior season ranked sixth all-time in blocked shots (106) and seventh in field goal shooting percentage (.542).
Morris needs only 243 points to become the 35th player in school history to score 1,000 career points. Only 14 players in school history have reached the 1,000-point plateau during or before their junior seasons
Below is the transcript of his insightful answers.
Q1. Who is the toughest player you have ever faced?
A1. The toughest players I have faced are Mark Madsen of Stanford and Paul Pierce of Kansas. Fortunately for us we played well against Stanford and Kansas and won both games.
Q2. Before a game, what do you always do?
A2. Before a game I like to listen to music.
Q3. Which NBA player do you model your game after?
A3. I am a big fan of Anferney "Penny" Hardaway's game.
Q4. Who do you admire in the game, past or present?
A4 I have always admired Penny Hardaway.
Q5. Who would you most like to dunk on?
A5. It doesn't matter, I just like to dunk.
Q6. What is your all-time basketball starting five?
A6. Michael Jordan, Penny Hardaway, George Gervin, Charles Barkley, Shaquille O'Neal.
Q7. If you could have anyone over to your house for dinner, who would you invite?
A7. I would like to break bread with Penny Hardaway.
Q8. What is it like to play for Gary Williams?
A8. I enjoy playing for Coach Williams. He is so intense that he makes us intense.
Q9. What have you learned from Coach Williams?
A9. That you have to play hard every minute of every game.
Q10. What is the best part about being a student-athlete? A10. Being part of a team and the relationships that you are able to develop with your teammates.
Q11. What is the worst part of being a student-athlete?
A11. That you don't really have a lot of time to yourself.
Q12. What arena have you enjoyed playing in the most during tour career?
A12. Next to Cole Field House, I like playing at the Smith Center at North Carolina. We have won two of three games there.
Q13. For each of the following sports figures what is the first thought that comes to your mind?
A13. Steve Francis - spectacular
Vince Carter - athletic
Matt Harpring - works hard
Elton Brand - strong
Terence Morris - versatile
