University of Maryland Athletics

Terps-Deacs Part II: Top Two ACC Teams Clash For Conference Driver's Seat

Men's Basketball Maryland Athletics

Terps-Deacs Part II: Top Two ACC Teams Clash For Conference Driver's Seat

Feb. 15, 2003

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COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The Maryland basketball team (No. 16 AP, No. 15 USA Today/ESPN) squares off against No. 15/17 Wake Forest on Sunday at Comcast Center in a clash of the Atlantic Coast Conference's top two squads. The second-place Terrapins look to climb once again to the top of the standings by erasing the Deacons' half-game lead in a contest that airs nationally at 8 p.m. on FOX Sports Net, and locally on Comcast SportsNet.

  • The Terrapins (15-6, 7-3 ACC) come into the game after gritting out a 74-72 win over Florida State in Tallahassee, thereby improving Maryland's ACC road record to a league-leading 3-2. Senior Drew Nicholas, the conference's third-leading scorer at 17.9 points per game, paced the Terps with 20 vs. the Seminoles. Wooden Award candidate Steve Blake (15 points, 4 assists) netted Maryland's final seven points, including four clutch free throws, to seal the victory. Senior big men Tahj Holden and Ryan Randle each recorded near double-doubles, as Holden posted 11 points and nine rebounds and Randle recorded 10 and eight, respectively.
  • The Demon Deacons (17-3, 7-2 ACC) enter the contest with a half-game lead over the Terps for first place in the ACC. The Deacons bounced back from a 68-61 loss at Marquette last Sunday by outlasting Duke, 94-80, in a wild double-overtime contest that featured 64 fouls and eight disqualifications on Thursday. Senior Josh Howard leads the Deacs, and the league, in scoring at 18.8 points per game, but finished with only 10 vs. the Blue Devils before fouling out. Freshman point guard Justin Gray netted 18 points in his first appearance after missing nine games with a broken jaw.
  • The Terrapins have won six out of the last seven games against the Deacons, and lead the season series 55-51. The Terps have won the last four at home and own a 31-15 record vs. Wake Forest in College Park. In their earlier meeting on Jan. 15 at the LJVM, the Terps cut a 17-point deficit to within two, but could not overcome the Deacs in Winston-Salem. Blake led the Terps with 15 points and seven assists in the 81-72 loss.

    Terp Streaks & Storylines

  • Maryland head coach Gary Williams is just four wins from 500 career victories, with a career record of 496-277. He is the 20th-leading active coach in America in terms of victories. Williams owns a 121-93 record against ACC opponents, good enough for sixth all-time. He is two conference wins away from passing former Maryland head coach Lefty Driesell, who amassed 122 victories in 17 seasons in College Park. Williams has led the Terps to a 3-2 ACC road record this season, which stands as the best away slate in the league. He owns an 11-2 record in Comcast Center.
  • Senior Wooden Award candidate Steve Blake is expected to set a new Maryland record by making his 127th career start on Sunday. Blake tied former Terp Keith Booth vs. Florida State (Feb. 12), who started 126 games from 1994-1997.
  • Blake totals 1,026 points and 893 assists and would be Maryland's only 1,000 point/1,000 assist man in history should he reach both milestones. By reaching the 1,000-point mark, he became the only player in ACC history to boast at least 1,000 points, 800 assists, 400 rebounds and 200 steals.
  • Blake enters Sunday's game with 893 career assists, having dished four on Wednesday to go along with 15 points. He is now currently tied with Arkansas State's Chico Fletcher (1997-2000) for 13th on the NCAA's all-time career assists chart, and would move past Northeastern's Andre LaFleur (894, 1984-87) into 11th place with two more helpers.
  • Blake is 107 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 893, and averages 7.0 per game for his career.
  • Blake led the ACC in assists as a sophomore (6.9) and junior (7.9), and ranked second in the country last season while keying Maryland to the NCAA title. His 6.8 assist per game average this season is currently second in the conference.
  • Senior shooting guard Drew Nicholas paces the Terps and is third in the ACC with a 17.9 scoring average after averaging 6.3 points as a reserve for three seasons. Nicholas averages 19.0 ppg in ACC games - good enough for second in the conference - and totals 1,045 points for his career.
  • Maryland has won 26 of its last 30 ACC regular season games, including a school-record 14-game streak which concluded at Wake Forest on Jan. 15.
  • The Terrapins have outshot 17 of their first 21 opponents from the field, have held seven opponents to less than 33 percent shooting, and 10 under 35 percent. As a team, Maryland is first in the Atlantic Coast Conference in field goal percentage defense and third in the nation at .376, according to most recent rankings.
  • Maryland is ranked No. 16 in the AP Poll and No. 15 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll (both released Feb. 10), having moved from No. 8 in both polls last week, which stood as the highest ranking of the 2002-03 season.
  • The Terps have been ranked in the AP Top 25 for 68 consecutive weeks, and the USA Today/ESPN Top 25 for 61-straight votes. Maryland has been in the Top 10 for 21 of the past 32 votes by the Associated Press, and in 24 of 34 by USA Today/ESPN.

    On Deck

  • The Maryland-Duke rivalry, which has grown to be perhaps the fiercest in all of college basketball, takes to Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, N.C. on Wed., Feb. 19. The Terps, who have won at Cameron in two of the last three trips, will attempt to hand Duke its first home loss in 26 games at 9 p.m. on ESPN.
  • The Terps finish a monster week, in which it will have faced three straight Tobacco Road opponents, on Saturday, Feb. 22 when North Carolina makes its first-ever trip to Comcast Center. The game is scheduled to tip at 2 p.m. 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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