Dec. 16, 2004
FSU Game Notes in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
The Maryland Terrapins (No. 23 AP, No. 19 USA Today/ESPN) emerge from their week of final exams and jump right into the start of the ACC basketball season as Florida State visits Comcast Center on Sunday. The Terps play in the second contest of their current five-game homestand, taking on the Seminoles in the second-earliest conference game of the Gary Williams Era at Maryland. Tip-off for the national television broadcast on FOX Sports Net is scheduled for 6:03 p.m., with Ron Thulin and Dan Bonner calling the action. The game will be aired in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C., area on Comcast SportsNet.
The Terrapins currently boast four double-figure scorers, all returning starters from what was statistically the youngest team in the nation last season. 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. Gilchrist currently ranks second in the ACC with 7.1 assists per game, and is listed among the league's scoring (14.4 ppg), rebounding (5.4 rpg), assists (50) and steals (3.0 spg) leaders. Sharpshooter and tenacious defender Chris McCray (14.3 ppg, .607 FG pct., 1.000 FT pct.) returns to complete one of the nation's top backcourts, while versatile forward Nik Caner-Medley (14.1 ppg, 5.0 rpg, .423 3-pt FG pct.) and powerful big man Travis Garrison (10.6 ppg, 6.7 rpg) return in the post.
Sophomore Ekene Ibekwe has assumed the Terps' fifth starting position, and has proven himself more than capable of handling his share of the inside duties. At 9.7 points per game, Ibekwe's 6.7 rebounds per game are tied for first on the team and his 2.0 rejections per game lead the Terrapins and are tied for fifth in the conference.
Last time out on Sunday, Dec. 12, Gilchrist led five Maryland players in double-digits, with 22 points on 8-of-9 field goals, as the Terps topped UNC Asheville, 96-72, at Comcast Center. Gilchrist dished seven assists, gabbed four boards, made three steals and led a perfect 13-for-13 team effort at the free throw line -- which marked only the second time in school history where Maryland was unblemished from the charity stripe (Jan. 21, 1985; 19-for-19 vs. Holy Cross). The Terps shot better than 50 percent from the floor (.551) for the third-consecutive contest.
Gary Williams is the 14th-winningest active coach in America with an overall record of 527-295. His 320 victories at Maryland place him sixth all-time among ACC coaches. Williams was inducted into the greater Washington, D.C., Sports Hall of Champions in the offseason, with Washington Sports' Abe Pollin and Redskin great Darrell Green, and will be given Maryland's highest alumni honor this spring when he is inducted into the Alumni Hall of Fame.
The Terrapins are 7-8 in ACC openers during Williams' tenure at Maryland, and are 8-7 in ACC home openers. The only other occasion in which the Terps began their ACC slate earlier than Dec. 19 during the Williams Era was on Dec. 4, 1997, when the Terps fell in a 78-65 overtime affair at Clemson. Maryland went on to a 21-11 record (10-6 ACC) and advanced to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen that season.
Terp Streaks & Storylines
The Terrapins lead the all-time series with Florida State by a 23-7 margin, and have only lost twice in the last 18 meetings. Maryland is 10-3 all-time against the Seminoles at home and has won the two matchups at Comcast Center by an average of 19.0 points per game.
As a team, the Terps have made a significant improvement at the free throw line, leading the 11-team ACC with a .712 mark from the line after finishing ninth (.631) in 2003-04. Junior Chris McCray paces all conference players with a 1.000 (18-for-18) mark from the line.
As a team, the Terps rank among ACC leaders in several statistical categories: rebounding (42.3 rpg, 1st), free throw shooting (.712, 1st), assists (18.7, 2nd), 3-point field goal percentage defense (.288, 2nd), blocked shots (7.0 bpg, 2nd), scoring offense (85.7 ppg, 3rd), field goal percentage defense (.378, 4th), margin of victory (+17.0, 5th) and steals (10.7 spg, 5th).
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, making the Terrapins one of only five teams in the nation riding a streak as long.
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 527-295 overall, making him the 14th-winningest active coach in America. He is 320-167 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).
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 Terps return to action in their last contest before the Christmas holiday, taking on local non-conference foe American on Dec. 23 at 8 p.m. Gary Williams takes on the school that gave him his first head coaching job in a game that will be televised live on Comcast SportsNet.
