Dec. 14, 2003
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* The Maryland basketball team defeated Pepperdine Sunday night 96-72 at Comcast Center to improve to 6-2 on the season, heading into a nine-day layoff for final exams. Pepperdine falls to 3-5.
* The 96-point performance was the most scored by Maryland since a 108-58 win over Hampton on Jan. 8, 2003. The Terps also collected 96 points in a 96-56 victory over North Carolina on Feb.22, 2003.
* In only the second meeting ever between the Terrapins and Waves -- the other being a 69-64 Maryland win in the first round of the 1986 NCAA Tournament -- John Gilchrist led the Terps with a career-high 24 points on 10-of-18 shooting (3-of-4 from behind the arc), breaking his previous mark of 18 tied earlier this week against top-ranked Florida. He also had 7 assists on the evening.
* Maryland has won all five of its games at Comcast Center this season, thereby improving to 19-2 all-time in its second year at their new home.
* Five Terrapins finished in double figures Sunday for the second time in the 2003-04 season. The last time five players reached the double-digit mark was against Hofstra on Nov. 19, 2003, when Nik Caner-Medley led Maryland with 19 points, while John Gilchrist, Travis Garrison, Chris McCray and Jamar Smith also scored in double digits.
* With a last-second three-point play, D.J. Strawberry set a career-high scoring mark in the first half, collecting 10 points on a stellar 4-of-5 shooting. He finished with 17 points on the evening (7-of-8 shooting), nearly doubling his previous high of 9, set against George Mason earlier this season.
* Strawberry's 17-point performance was the highest by a Maryland freshman since Drew Nicholas racked up 27 points against Fairleigh Dickinson on Nov. 27, 1999 in a 104-45 Terrapin win.
* After a back-and-forth opening seven minutes, Maryland went on a 12-2 run to open up a 23-16 advantage midway through the first half. Gilchrist scored seven points in the Terrapin spurt on a three-pointer, a breakaway slam dunk and a follow lay-in. Maryland held its largest first-half lead when McCray sunk a short jumper to lift Maryland to a 41-28 lead with under two minutes remaining.
* Jamar Smith led the early Maryland effort in the low post, by racking up five rebounds in the first five minutes. By finishing with 12 points and a team-high 10 rebounds, Smith notched his seventh double-double in eight games this season.
* Maryland opened the second half on a 13-4 spurt and never looked back. They built their largest lead at the 8:51 mark of the second half, when Mike Jones drilled a three-pointer to lift the Terrapins to an 80-51 lead. Gilchrist scored 8 of the Terps' first 11 points in the half.
* Maryland shot a scorching 67.7 percent from the field in the second half on 21-of-31 shooting, and finished 54.3 percent for the game on 38-of-70 from the field.
* In its last two games against No. 1 Florida and Pepperdine, Maryland has found its touch from beyond the arc, nailing 17-of-33 three pointers (51.5 percent) - including 10-of-16 (62.5 percent) Sunday -- a dramatic improvement from its first six games in which the Terps shot just 25-of-92 (27.2 percent).
* Four of Maryland's first five field goals were from long distance, en route to 6-of-11 first half shooting from three-point range. Gilchrist was 2-of-2 and Nik Caner-Medley was 2-of-3 from behind the arc in the first half.
* Will Bowers finished with four points, also setting a new career high. He played a season-high 13 minutes
* All 13 Terrapins saw action in Sunday's game for only the second time this season (the season opening win vs. American on Nov. 22, 2003. Twelve Terrapins got into the scoring column, including junior Darien Henry, who notched his first points of the season on a mid-range jumper.
