Jan. 21, 2005
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ATTENTION TERRAPIN FANS! Sunday's men's basketball game vs. NC State will be played as scheduled. Fans are reminded to arrive early and to be patient when entering Comcast Center parking lots, since there may be snow yet to be cleared blocking some parking spaces around campus.
For more information, fans should log on to www.umterps.com or call the Terrapin Ticket Office at 301-314-7070 or 800-462-TERP.
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The Maryland men's basketball team looks to close out its three-game homestand with a third-straight victory as the Terrapins play host to the NC State Wolfpack on Sunday. The Terrapins, who bounced back from a pair of road losses with two straight wins, look to stay on track as they tangle with NC State at 6 p.m. The contest will be televised nationally on FOX SportsNet, airing in the Mid-Atlantic region on Comcast SportsNet. Tim Brando and Mike Gminski call the action from the Terps' state-of-the-art Comcast Center, while Debbie Antonelli reports from the sidelines.
Terrapin head coach Gary Williams, who is the second-longest tenured coach in the Atlantic Coast Conference, is also one of two ACC head coaches to have captured the NCAA men's basketball title. Williams currently owns the second-most victories among all current league coaches, and a win on Sunday would put him in fifth place outright on the ACC's all-time victories list. Williams is currently tied with former Virginia head coach Terry Holland (1974-1990) with 326 victories as head coaches of their respective ACC programs. A victory would also put Williams into fourth place outright in terms of victories over ACC league teams. Williams currently owns 134 wins at Maryland over teams in the ACC, while former Georgia Tech head coach Bobby Cremins totaled 134 from 1982-2000 with the Yellow Jackets. Herb Sendek is the third-longest tenured ACC coach and has 159 wins at NC State.
The Terrapins earned a second-straight victory on Wednesday night as a strong second-half defensive effort helped Maryland to an 82-68 decision over ACC border-rival Virginia. Junior Nik Caner-Medley, who has now scored 82 points over the last three contests (27.3 ppg), led the Terps with 26 points to go along with seven boards, two blocks, two assists and a steal. John Gilchrist netted 13 and dished seven assists in another unselfish performance by the Terrapin junior, while sophomore forward Ekene Ibekwe stepped up his play in the second stanza and finished with 12 points and six boards. Chris McCray came back from a tailbone injury to total 12 points, seven rebounds and three assists while leading a Terp defensive effort that held Virginia to only 23 percent shooting in the second half. McCray's appearance in the contest was determined less than 60 minutes before tip-off, and helped offset the news that the Terrapins would be without guard D.J. Strawberry (torn ACL) for the rest of the season. Overall, the Terrapins held the Cavaliers to 34 percent shooting from the floor, while rejecting a season high-tying 11 shots.
NC State won eight consecutive contests to start the year but have fallen in seven of their last nine games. The Wolfpack was defeated on Wednesday at Virginia Tech, 72-71, despite a 23-point, 12 rebound performance by 2004 ACC Regular Season MVP Julius Hodge and 13 points and 10 boards from NC State rookie Andrew Brackman. Hodge leads the `Pack with averages of 18.4 points, 7.6 rebounds and 4.4 assists.
The Terrapins trail, 69-67, in the all-time series that dates to 1925, but the Terps have won 25 of the last 30 matchups overall, 10 of the last 12, and 14 of the last 15 that have been played in College Park. The Terrapins took two out of three meetings in 2003-04, including a 21-point comeback over the `Pack in the 2004 ACC Tournament semifinals.
Terp Streaks & Storylines
Terrapin junior forward Nik Caner-Medley leads the Terps in scoring at 17.0 ppg, after netting 21 points at Wake Forest (Jan. 11), 36 at home vs. Temple (Jan. 15) and 26 vs. Virginia (Jan. 19). He is averaging 27.3 ppg across the three-game stretch, shooting .596 from the field while grabbing 7.3 rebounds per game, dishing 2.7 assists and making 2.0 steals. In conference games only, Caner-Medley's 2.5 steals per game leads all ACC players. Caner-Medley has led the Terps in scoring six times this season, and has scored more than 20 points in three consecutive contests and 10 career games.
Junior point guard John Gilchrist has averaged 16.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 1.4 steals over the last 10 games, all while shooting 51 percent from the field and hitting at a 41 percent mark from long-range. He currently leads the ACC in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.35) and ranks in the top five among ACC players in assists (third, 5.8 apg) and steals (tied-fourth, 31. Gilchrist, a preseason Naismith and Wooden All-American, is 17th in the league in scoring at 14.5 ppg and 13th in field goal percentage (.469).
Sophomore reserve guard D.J. Strawberry, who was among the ACC's steals leaders with 24 on the year, will miss the remainder of the basketball season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). Starting two-guard Chris McCray (12.4 ppg, .489 FG pct., .919 FT pct.) missed the Temple game with a bruised tailbone, but courageously came back to action against Virginia and scored 12 points with seven rebounds, three assists and two steals. Smooth-shooting sophomore guard Mike Jones has asserted himself offensively over the last three games, averaging 11.7 points while hitting 52 percent of his shots and drilling 67 percent (6-of-9) from long range.
The Terrapins, noted for their determination, character and resiliency, look to sweep this three-game homestand after coming off the toughest ACC road trip in 17 seasons. The Terps' daunting task of facing No. 3 North Carolina and No. 4 Wake Forest consecutively on the road had not been equaled since Georgia Tech played at No. 3 UNC on Jan. 30, 1988, and at No. 4 Duke on four days later. Since those two games, then-No. 8 Georgia Tech fell at North Carolina, 91-69 (Jan. 12), while UNC in turn was topped by Wake, 95-82 (Jan. 15), which fell at Florida State, 91-83 (ot) on Tuesday.
In the games against then-No. 4/3 Wake and then-No. 3/4 North Carolina, the Terps combined to shoot 42 percent from the field (56-of-132), eight percent from 3-point range (3-of-36) and 62 percent from the free throw line (26-of-42). In their last two games, the Terps bounced back by shooting 46 percent from the field (53-of-116), 35 percent from long range (12-of-34) and 75 percent from the charity stripe (44-of-59). The Terrapins averaged only 32 rebounds in their trip to Tobacco Road and were beat on the glass by an average of 18, but came back to average 37.5 boards in their last two games.
At 84.8 points per game, the Terps own one of the most potent scoring offenses in the nation. Maryland is currently fifth in the NCAA, trailing only North Carolina, Washington, Niagara and Wake Forest in terms of scoring output.
Maryland has made a significant improvement at the free throw line, ranking fourth in the 11-team ACC with a .708 mark from the line after finishing ninth (.631) in 2003-04. Chris McCray is tied for ninth in the nation and second in the league with a .919 (34-for-37) mark from the line.
Williams owns a career record of 533-297 overall, making him the 14th-winningest active coach in America. He is 326-169 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.
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 NCAAs since 1994, making the Terrapins one of only five teams in the nation -- and the only school in the ACC -- riding a streak as long.
On Deck
The Terps next hit the road to renew their rivalry with the currently undefeated Duke. Maryland faces the Blue Devils for the first time this season at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Wednesday, Jan. 26, at 9 p.m. in a nationally televised game on ESPN.
