Dec. 9, 2004
UNC Asheville Game Notes in PDF Format
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COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
After two and a half weeks on the road, the Maryland basketball team (No. 23 AP, No. 17 USA Today/ESPN) returns to the friendly confines of Comcast Center to take on UNC Asheville for the first time since 1997 and the second time in school history. The Terps look to return to their winning ways when they meet the Bulldogs on Sunday at 1 p.m., marking Maryland's first home game in 19 days. The matchup will be televised live regionally on the Raycom/Jefferson Pilot Network and will air locally on UPN-20 (WDCA) in Washington, D.C., and WB-54 (WNUV) in the Baltimore area. Mike Hogewood and longtime Georgia Tech head coach Bobby Cremins call the action.
The Terrapins returned 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. Gilchrist currently ranks second in the ACC with 7.2 assists per game, and is listed among the league's scoring (13.2 ppg), rebounding (5.7 rpg), assists (43) and steals (3.0 spg) leaders. Sharpshooter and tenacious defender Chris McCray (14.2 ppg, .608 FG pct., 1.000 FT pct.) returns to complete one of the nation's top backcourts, while current scoring leader Nik Caner-Medley (15.2 ppg, 5.2 rpg) and powerful big man Travis Garrison (9.8 ppg, 7.0 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 9.3 points per game, Ibekwe has dipped in and out of double-figure scoring since the start of his sophomore campaign, while his 6.7 rebounds per game rank second on the team and his 2.0 rejections per game lead the Terrapins and are tied for fourth in the conference. Ibekwe recently posted his first career double-double performance with 21 points (10-of-13 FGs) and 12 boards in Maryland's 69-64 loss at Wisconsin.
Gary Williams is the 14th-winningest active coach in America with an overall record of 526-295. His 319 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, with Washington Sports & Entertainment's Abe Pollin and former Redskins great Darrell Green, and will be given the University of Maryland's highest alumni honor this spring when he is inducted into the Alumni Hall of Fame.
UNC Asheville enters Sunday's game with a 1-4 record, coming off its first victory of the season, 85-71 over Western Carolina last Saturday, Dec. 4. Senior forwards Joseph Barber and Bryan McCullough lead the Bulldogs at 11.8 ppg each, and McCullough also owns team-high rebounding honors at 5.6 per game. Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach, now in his ninth season on the Bulldogs' sideline, led his team to the 1998 NCAA Tournament and was honored as the 2002 Big South Coach of the Year. The two-time All-ACC first team selection is a 1968 NC State grad whose Wolfpack teams used to face Gary Williams during his playing days at Maryland in the mid-1960s.
Terp Streaks & Storylines
The Terps are 103-2 at home against non-conference foes since the Williams Era began in 1989-90, and have currently won 13-straight games at Comcast Center against non-ACC foes.
As a team, the Terps rank among ACC leaders in several statistical categories: rebounding (43.2 rpg, 2nd), blocked shots (7.0 bpg, 2nd), scoring offense (84.0 ppg, 3rd), field goal percentage defense (.371, 3rd), margin of victory (+15.8, 4th) assists (18.3, 4th) and steals (10.5 spg, 5th). As a team, the Terps have also made a significant improvement at the free throw line, going from ninth (.631) in 2003-04 to fourth (.685) this season. Maryland led all ACC teams headed into the BB&T Classic last weekend with a .750 mark from the charity stripe. Chris McCray still paces the conference with a 1.000 (16-for-16) mark from the line.
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 526-295 overall, making him the 14th-winningest active coach in America. He is 319-167 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
After a week without games as the Terps take their fall semester final exams, the ACC season officially begins with the Terps' Dec. 19 matchup against Florida State. The pre-Christmas tilt is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Comcast Center in a national broadcast on FOX Sports Net.
The Terps then return to action in non-conference action before the holiday, playing host to American on Dec. 23 at 8 p.m. on Comcast SportsNet.
