Terrapins Enter Ninth Consecutive NCAA Tournament
3/13/2002 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 13, 2002
Maryland vs. Siena Game Notes in PDF Format
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COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Maryland (No. 4 AP/No. 4 USA Today/ESPN) will begin play in its ninth consecutive NCAA Tournament under head coach Gary Williams when the Terrapins meet either Alcorn State or Siena at the MCI Center in Washington, D.C., on Friday, March 15. Maryland, the top-seeded team in the NCAA East Region, draws the winner of the tournament's play-in game, Siena, who defeated Alcorn State on Tuesday night in Dayton, Ohio. All games are televised by CBS Sports.
* Schedule of games at MCI Center -
Friday, March 15: #7 NC State vs. #10 Michigan State, 12:15 p.m., #2 Connecticut vs. #15 Hampton, 25 minutes following, #8 Wisconsin vs. #9 St. John's, 7:40 p.m., #1 Maryland vs. #16 Siena, 25 minutes following.
Sunday, March 17: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 2:30 p.m., Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4, 25 minutes following.
* Maryland is 26-4 and has won 13 of its last 14 games. The Terps were the regular season champions in the Atlantic Coast Conference with a 15-1 league mark - just the fourth team in ACC history to win 15 league games. Maryland's ACC record and its 25-3 regular season record both were the best in school history. The Terps are two wins shy of the school record for wins in a season (28-6 in 1999).
* Siena is 17-18 and the champion of the Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC). The Saints are the only team in the NCAA Tournament with a losing record, but have won five straight games including a 92-77 victory over Niagara to win the MAAC's automatic bid, and an 81-77 win over Alcorn State last Tuesday.
TERP NOTES & STORYLINES
* This week's games will be the closest to its campus that Maryland has ever played an NCAA Tournament game. Located approximately 10 miles and 15 minutes southwest of College Park, the MCI Center has been the site of the BB&T Classic each December which the Terps annually co-host with George Washington. Maryland has played two games at the MCI Center each year since 1997-98.
* Maryland is a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history. Only twice had the Terps ever even been a No. 2 seed: 1999 and 1980.
* Maryland and Oklahoma are the only teams in the field of 65 to claim wins this season over teams which were ranked both No. 1 and No. 2.
* The Terrapins are the only team in the tournament that has NOT lost a game to a team that is currently unranked.
* Maryland has advanced to nine straight NCAA Tournaments, and has won at least 25 games in a fourth consecutive season. Maryland, Cincinnati, Duke and Gonzaga are the only four schools who have won at least 25 games in each of the 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002 seasons.
* Maryland has won 13 of its last 14 games and 18 of its last 20. Prior to the ACC Tournament loss to NC State, Maryland's string of 26 wins in 28 games was the best stretch in school history. Maryland's 13-game win streak, ended in the ACC Tournament, was the third-longest in school history.
* The last time that Maryland remained in the East Region was in 1980. Its only other East Region appearances were in 1958 and 1973, both prior to the expansion of the bracket to 64/65 teams. Maryland has gone 22 years and 14 NCAA Tournaments since it last played in the East Region.
* The ACC Coach of the Year, Gary Williams is Maryland's winningest coach in NCAA Tournament history, boasting a 13-8 record in eight previous appearances. He is 17-11 in the NCAA Tournament overall, including stops at Boston College and Ohio State.
* Maryland's No. 4 ranking in both major polls matches the highest that Maryland has ever been ranked to enter the NCAA Tournament. In 1975, the Terrapins were also No. 4 and advanced to the Elite Eight.
* Maryland's senior class is presently 104-31 over the last four seasons, marking the most wins by any class in school history. Juan Dixon has played in all 104 victories, and Lonny Baxter in 101. Maryland has set new standards for most wins in a four-year period (104) and a five-year stretch (125).
* Maryland's experience is exhibited by three senior co-captains (Lonny Baxter, Juan Dixon, Byron Mouton), a pair of returning All-West Region performers from 2001 (MVP-Baxter, Dixon), and a junior point guard who already has started three straight seasons and is poised to stamp his name deep in the NCAA record book (Steve Blake).
* Juan Dixon is just 36 points shy of becoming the Terps' career scoring leader. He leads all active career scoring leaders in this season's NCAA Tournament. He has scored in double figures in 48 consecutive games, also the longest among NCAA Tournament participants.
* Dixon needs just 20 points to become the first Terrapin in history to score over 600 points in three different seasons.
* Point guard Steve Blake boasts 711 career assists as just a junior - the most of any player in this season's NCAA Tournament. Already Maryland's career leader, he is on pace to become just the fourth player in NCAA history with 1,000 in his career. He averages 7.04 per game for his career, and he recently took over the national lead in assists with 8.2 per game this season.
* Blake needs just three assists to break his own Maryland single season record (248 in 2001).
ON DECK
* The winner of Maryland's first round game will advance to meet the winner of #8 Wisconsin vs. #9 St. John's, in an NCAA second round game on Sunday, March 17. Sunday's winner will advance to the NCAA East Regional at Syracuse, N.Y., March 22 and 24.
