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University of Maryland Athletics

No. 17/15 Men's Basketball Takes ACC Win Streak On The Road To Wake Forest

Men's Basketball Maryland Athletics

No. 17/15 Men's Basketball Takes ACC Win Streak On The Road To Wake Forest

Jan. 13, 2003

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COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The Maryland basketball squad (No. 17 AP, No. 15 USA Today/ESPN) plays its first Atlantic Coast Conference contest on the road as the Terps head to Winston-Salem, N.C., to take on the Demon Deacons. The Terrapins put their school-record 14-game ACC win streak on the line as they meet the Deacs at 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 15, at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The game airs regionally on the Raycom/Jefferson Pilot network, and locally on WDCA (UPN-20 in Washington, D.C.) and WNUV (WB-54 in the Baltimore area).

  • The Terrapins (9-3, 2-0 ACC) meet the Deacons after roaring out to an early lead and downing the Florida State Seminoles, 89-62, for their second ACC win on Saturday. Senior Drew Nicholas netted 23 points, grabbed nine rebounds and made a team-high tying four assists to become the first player to lead the Terps in all three categories since Keith Booth vs. North Carolina in 1997. Tahj Holden came off the bench to score 12 points and block three Seminole shots, while the Terps as a team shot 31-of-58 (.534) against a Florida State squad that entered the game ranked second in the nation with a .352 field goal percentage defense.
  • The No. 19/20 Demon Deacons (10-1, 0-1 ACC) head into Wednesday's game after falling in their first game of the season on Sunday. In a battle of the nation's two remaining undefeated teams, the Deacs fell to the Duke Blue Devils, 74-55, in Durham. Senior forward Josh Howard leads Wake with 15.9 points and 8.2 rebounds per game, and led the Deacons with 13 points against Duke. Rookie center Eric Williams averages 11.7 points per game.
  • Maryland has won the last seven meetings in the series, and owns a 55-50 record against the Demon Deacons. The Terrapins look to gain on Wake's 30-20 advantage in games played in Winston-Salem on Wednesday night. Maryland took the last meeting, a 90-89 victory in College Park on Feb. 24 of last season, when Juan Dixon hit the game-winning technical free throw after Howard called an illegal timeout.

    Terp Streaks & Storylines

  • The Terrapins are currently riding a 14-game ACC regular season win streak, which stands as a school record. The Terrapins have achieved victory in every ACC regular season game since a 99-90 home win over Clemson on Jan. 20, 2002, in Cole Field House. The Terps' last ACC loss came at Duke, 99-78, on Jan. 17, 2002.
  • Maryland has won its last five ACC games played on the road, starting with a 85-63 victory at Wake last season. The Terrapins received 19 points apiece from Steve Blake and Juan Dixon, to begin the string of victories, having not fallen in a conference game on the road since the Jan. 17, 2002 loss to the Blue Devils.
  • Maryland head coach Gary Williams owns 490 career victories, and is now just 10 wins from 500. He is the 20th-leading active coach in America in terms of victories. Williams is sixth in conference history with 116 ACC wins.
  • Senior point guard Steve Blake enters Wednesday's game with 838 career assists, placing him 18th on the NCAA all-time career assist chart.
  • Blake is 162 assists away from becoming the fourth Division I player in history to reach 1,000 assists. The only others are all former ACC players - Bobby Hurley (1,076), Chris Corchiani (1,038) and Ed Cota (1,030). Blake is the nation's active leader in career assists with 838, and averages 7.04 per game for his career.
  • Blake is 187 points shy of becoming Maryland's 40th 1,000-point career scorer. He would be Maryland's only 1,000 point/1,000 assist man in history should he reach both marks. His backcourt partner, Drew Nicholas, needs only 108 points for a career total of 1,000. He paces the Terps and the ACC with a 18.6 scoring average.
  • Blake led the ACC in assists as a sophomore (6.9) and a junior (7.9), and ranked second in the country last season while guiding Maryland to the NCAA title. His 7.3 assist per game average this season is currently second in the conference.
  • Maryland freshmen Nik Caner-Medley and Travis Garrison started together for the fifth straight game against Florida State, marking the first time since 1993-94 that a pair of true freshmen have started as many consecutive contests. That season, freshmen Keith Booth and Joe Smith were regulars in the starting lineup, each starting all 30 games en route to the Terps' 18-12 record and Sweet 16 appearance.
  • The Terrapins have outshot 10 of their first 12 opponents from the field, and have held six opponents to less than 33% shooting. As a team, Maryland is first in the Atlantic Coast Conference in field goal percentage defense and ranks fifth nationally at .353.
  • Maryland is ranked No. 17 in the AP Poll and No. 15 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll, released Jan. 13. The Terrapins were No. 21/17 in the previous AP and USA Today/ESPN Polls from Jan. 6. The Terps have been ranked in the AP top 25 for 64 consecutive weeks, and the USA Today/ESPN top 25 for 57 straight votes.

    On Deck

  • The best rivalry in college basketball will be renewed for the 151st meeting when No. 1/1 Duke makes its first trip to Comcast Center on Saturday, Jan. 18. The still undefeated Blue Devils come to College Park for a 1:30 p.m. nationally-televised ACC matchup on ABC.
  • Following the meeting with the Blue Devils, the Terps face their next two ACC opponents on the road - North Carolina on Jan. 22, and Clemson on Jan. 25. The Terps face the youth-laden Tar Heels in a 7 p.m. ESPN tilt next Wednesday, before trekking down to Clemson for a 4 p.m. Saturday afternoon matchup that will air on the Raycom/Jefferson Pilot network.
  • The Terrapins return to Comcast Center for a Jan. 30 meeting with the NC State Wolfpack. The Thursday night game is scheduled for 9 p.m. and will be televised on the Raycom/Jefferson Pilot network.

    Consistency & Excellence

  • Maryland made a repeat appearance at the NCAA Final Four last season and is the ONLY school in the nation that has advanced to the Elite Eight in each of the past two seasons.
  • The Terps also are the ONLY school to have achieved ALL of the following:
    - Appeared in each of the last nine NCAA Tournaments from 1994 to 2002 (Arizona, Cincinnati, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland and UCLA).
    - Advanced to the Sweet Sixteen at least six times since 1994 (Arizona, Connecticut, Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland).
    - Won at least 25 games over each of the past four seasons from 1999 to 2002 (Duke, Maryland, Cincinnati, Gonzaga).
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