Nov. 24, 2004
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COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
The Maryland basketball team (No. 13 AP, No. 14 USA Today/ESPN) begins a tough stretch away from the friendly confines of Comcast Center when the Terrapins meet the No. 25/24 Memphis Tigers on Friday in the 26th-annual Hall of Fame Tip-off Classic. The game will be televised live on ESPN2, with Dan Shulman (play-by-play) and Dick Vitale (color analyst) calling the action and Doris Burke reporting from the sidelines.
The Terrapins return 11 letterwinners and four starters from what was statistically the youngest team in the nation in 2003-04. ACC Tournament MVP John Gilchrist, who led the Terps in scoring, assists and steals a season ago, has been named to the preseason Naismith, Wooden and Rupp National Player of the Year Award Watch Lists and Dick Vitale's All Rolls Royce Team. Sharpshooter and tenacious defender Chris McCray returns to complete one of the nation's top backcourts, while versatile Nik Caner-Medley and powerful big man Travis Garrison return in the post. Sophomore Ekene Ibekwe rounded out the Terps' starting five in Maryland's first two games. Ibekwe proved more than capable of handling his share of the inside duties, sharing the team lead in rebounding at 7.5 boards per game and registering as one of five Terps currently scoring in double-figures at 10.5 ppg.
Caner-Medley paced the Terrapins in their last time out, scoring 21 points on 9-of-14 field goals in a 93-67 victory over the Mercer Bears on Tuesday night in College Park. McCray continued his strong play with 15 points, a career-high nine rebounds, two blocks and a team-high tying four steals. Gilchrist offered 14 points, six assists, four boards and four thefts as the Terrapins forced Mercer into 28 turnovers. Sophomore guard D.J. Strawberry, who currently ranks fifth on the team in scoring at 12.0 ppg, netted 13 on Tuesday to go along with four assists and two takeaways, while rookie forward James Gist got into double-figures for the first time with 10 points.
Gary Williams is the 16th-winningest active coach in America with an overall record of 524-293. His 317 victories at Maryland places him sixth all-time among ACC Coaches. Williams was inducted into the greater Washington, D.C., Sports Hall of Champions in the offseason and will be given the University of Maryland's highest alumni honor this spring when he is inducted into the Alumni Hall of Fame.
The Terps are 0-1 all-time in the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Classic, falling to eventual national champion Kentucky, 96-84 on Nov. 24, 1995. Current asst. coach Keith Booth had 11 points for the Terps, and Johnny Rhodes scored a game-high 30. UK's team featured Antoine Walker (7 pts), Ron Mercer (6 pts), Tony Delk (21 pts) and Mark Pope (26 pts).
The matchup with Memphis begins a stretch where the Terrapins could face three ranked teams in four games across 10 days. Next on the schedule for the Terps: at No. 20/17 Wisconsin (Monday, Nov. 30), vs. George Mason (Saturday, Dec. 4) and possibly No. 10/9 Michigan State (BB&T Championship/Consolation, Sunday, Dec. 5).
Terp Streaks & Storylines
Last March, head coach Gary Williams led his Terrapins to the 2004 ACC Tournament championship, giving Maryland its first ACC title since 1984. The Terrapins became one of only three teams in ACC Tournament history to knock off the top three seeds when they downed No. 3 Wake Forest (87-86), No. 2 NC State (85-82) and No. 1 Duke (95-87 (ot) en route to an automatic bid and No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Terps reached the NCAA Second Round and finished the season with a 20-12 record.
Maryland continued a current school record with a berth in last season's NCAA Tournament. Williams returned to his alma mater in 1989 and has guided the Terrapins to 11 straight NCAA Tournaments since 1994 -- a run that includes seven Sweet Sixteen appearances, Final Four showings in 2001 and 2002 and the 2002 NCAA Championship. Maryland is currently one of only five schools in the nation riding a streak of 11 straight NCAA Tournament appearances.
The young Terrapins of 2004 earned the ACC's automatic berth by winning Maryland's first conference tournament title in 20 years. Maryland was 14-11 (5-9 ACC) on Feb. 28 following a home loss to Wake Forest before reeling off five-straight victories. The Terps won the last two regular-season ACC games vs. Virginia and No. 16/19 NC State and posted the trio of ranked wins in the ACC tourney over the No. 15/14 Demon Deacons, the No. 17/20 Wolfpack and No. 5/4 Duke. In all, Maryland earned seven victories over the Top 25 in 2003-04 -- the most since its school-record national championship run in 2002 (9) -- and played the second-toughest schedule in the nation. The Terps extended a school record of consecutive 20-win seasons to eight (1996-97 to 2003-04), winning six of their last seven games in 2004, and five straight headed into the NCAA Tournament.
Williams owns a career record of 524-293 overall, making him the 16th-winningest active coach in America. He is 317-165 in his 16th season as the head coach at Maryland and only six coaches in college basketball history have captured as many victories as the leader of a program in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Williams totals 26 NCAA Tournament victories -- ranking ninth among active coaches -- and is 22-10 at Maryland for a .688 NCAA winning percentage.
As a sophomore, John Gilchrist was the first player to lead the Terps in scoring (15.4 ppg) and assists (5.0 apg) since Walt Williams in the 1990-91 season, and the first point guard to lead Maryland in both categories since John Lucas in the 1973-74 season.
Gilchrist averaged 24.0 points per game, 5.3 rebounds and 6.3 assists through three ACC Tournament games to become Maryland's third-ever tourney MVP (Albert King, 1980; Len Bias, 1984). He shot at a .634 clip from the field and .643 from 3-point range, with incredible efforts against Wake (16 pts, 6 asst, 5 rebs), NC State (30 pts, 7 asst, 4 rebs, 4 stls, 1 TO) and Duke (26 pts, 7 rebs, 6 asst).
Mike Grinnon, the Terps' lone scholarship senior in 2004, played key minutes in the Terps' ACC title game vs. Duke, including making 2-of-2 free throws in overtime to help the Terrapins hold on for the victory. Grinnon, the only member of the 2003-04 squad remaining from Maryland's 2002 national championship team, cemented a place of distinction in the Terrapin record books - he is the only player in school history to have won both the NCAA and ACC Tournament titles.
The 2003-04 season marked the second consecutive year the Terps established a new single-season record for home attendance total and per game average. A total of 287,200 spectators for an average of 17,950 fans per game made the trip to Comcast Center in 2003-04. The Terps logged 16 full sellouts in 2003-04 to set another school record. Maryland's home average of 17,950 ranked fifth in the nation for the second straight year.
In August, the 2004 ACC Champs embarked on a 12-day, five-game summer tour of Italy. The Terrapins posted a 3-2 record, averaging 98.6 points per game and a margin of victory of +13.0 ppg, downing a pair of professional Italian teams and posting a landslide victory over world-famous Kiev (Russia). The Terps visited Rome, Florence, Venice and Lake Como, exploring influential centers of culture and art while getting the chance to bond as a team.
On Deck
The Terrapins take on No. 20/17 Wisconsin on Monday, Nov. 30, in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge in the Kohl Center. The game airs live at 9 EST on ESPN2. 
