Postgame Notes: Maryland 101, UMBC 60

Dec. 23, 2002

Maryland moved up in the rankings prior to Monday evening's game. The Terrapins are now No. 23 in the AP and No. 22 in the USA Today/ESPN polls, released Monday afternoon. The Terps have been ranked in the AP top 25 for 61 consecutive weeks, and in the USA Today/ESPN Poll for 54 straight weeks.

The Terrapin victory over the local squad from UMBC gives Maryland a 13-0 advantage in a series that dates to 1987. The 41-point win marked the largest margin for the Terps in the series since 1990, when the Terps posted a 113-61 victory on Feb. 22. The last five meetings have been Terp wins by an average of 32.6 points.

Maryland has now played 137 times in College Park since losing consecutive home games.

Six Terrapins scored in double-figures, marking the first time since March 3, 2002 (the last game at Cole Field House) that Maryland had as many double-digit scorers. Juan Dixon (23), Chris Wilcox (21), Lonny Baxter (20), Steve Blake (15), Byron Mouton (11) and Drew Nicholas (10) each scored in double-figures in a 112-92 victory over Virginia.

The win was Maryland's 99th all-time 100-point game, the first came against Yale (103-80) in the 1959-60 season.

Maryland is now 13-1 in the Gary Williams era in games played immediately before the Christmas holiday.

With senior Tahj Holden attending a family funeral, true freshman Travis Garrison made his first start, joining classmate Nik Caner-Medley, who made his fourth consecutive start at small forward. The last time two freshmen appeared in Maryland's starting lineup was on March 16, 2000, when Holden and Steve Blake started an NCAA Tournament First Round game against Iona. Blake was a regular at the point guard spot as a freshman and drew 33 starts that season. That game was Holden's third, and final start of the season. He was playing for injured sophomore Danny Miller.

With nine assists in the game, senior All-America candidate Steve Blake now totals 806 for his career, moving into 21st place on the all-time NCAA assists chart. He passed Marist's Drafton Davis (1988) and Kansas' Jacque Vaughn (1977), who each dealt 804. Blake became the 23rd college basketball player all-time to pass the 800 career assist milestone.

In addition to his nine assists, Blake added 11 points to post his fifth double-figure scoring game of 2002-03. Blake has totaled nine or more assists 18 times in the last two seasons.

Senior forward Ryan Randle came close to his third career double-double with a career-high 21 points and nine rebounds, which would have been his second in as many games. Randle was 10-of-15 from the floor to score in double-figures for the fifth time as a starter in the Terps' eight games. Randle alone scored the first 11 points of the second half.

In the last six games, Randle has averaged 14.5 points and 8.5 rebounds.

Senior Drew Nicholas has scored in double-figures in all eight of Maryland's games, finishing Monday's match-up with 15 points. He averages 18.3 points in the last three games.

Senior Calvin McCall netted a career-high 11 points that included a 2-of-2 performance from beyond the arc. His only other double-figure scoring game came last season as a junior against Florida State on Feb. 27. He scored 10 points and was 4-of-4 in the capital of his home state of Florida.

Freshman Nik Caner-Medley, making his fourth career start, finished the contest with 11 points and eight rebounds.

Freshman Travis Garrison finished the game with eight points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots in his first start.

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