Feb. 25, 2005
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COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
The Maryland basketball team (16-9, 7-7 ACC) takes on No. 2/2 North Carolina (23-3, 11-2 ACC) on Sunday in what will be the final home game of the season, and the final contest at Comcast Center for Terrapin seniors Mike Grinnon and Darien Henry. The seniors and their families will be honored in a ceremony before the Terrapins and Tar Heels tip off at 5:30 p.m. The game will be televised live on FOX Sports Net, airing in the Mid-Atlantic region on Comcast SportsNet. Tim Brando and Mike Gminski call the action, while Dwayne Ballen reports from the sidelines.
Grinnon, a four-year contributor for the Terrapins, is the only player in Maryland basketball history to have won the NCAA title and ACC championship. He was voted a team co-captain for this season, only a few months after his two critical free throws against Duke in March `04 helped the Terps shore up their first conference tournament title since 1984. Henry joined the Terps as a walk-on in the 2002-03 season and has been a major part of the team's practice and pregame preparation squads. He has made almost 50 percent of his career field goals and his dedication earned him the "Mr. Hustle Award" at the team's 2004 postseason honors banquet.
The Terrapins are currently the No. 36 team in the latest RPI report listed on ESPN.com, with the ninth-strongest schedule in the nation. Maryland is the fourth-ranked team in the ACC according to the report, with the third-toughest strength of schedule among conference teams. The Terps have notched six victories over Top 100 RPI teams, and not one of the Terps' losses have come to a team outside the RPI Top 100.
Against Clemson on Feb. 22, the Terrapins fell behind early and could not quite catch up to the Tigers, who made 58 percent of their field goals and 67 percent of their shots from long range in a 97-93 victory. Nik Caner-Medley led the Terrapins for the 12th time this season with 23 points, adding seven rebounds. Chris McCray netted 21 with four assists, while Travis Garrison scored 16 with seven boards (five offensive). John Gilchrist posted his fifth-career double-double, and third in the last five games, finishing the contest with 12 points and a team-high 10 rebounds.
Caner-Medley and Gilchrist look to become the 40th and 41st Terrapins to reach the 1,000-career points plateau. Caner-Medley is currently four shy with 996 career points, while Gilchrist is six away with 994.
North Carolina is 23-3 and 11-2 under second-year head coach Roy Williams after an 81-71 win at NC State on Tuesday. Junior Sean May is one of two players in the league averaging a double-double with 15.5 ppg and 10.3 rpg. Tar Heel leading scorer Rashad McCants (15.8 ppg) missed the matchup vs. the Wolfpack with an intestinal disorder, but May scored 14 with 12 boards, freshman Marvin Williams netted 12 and Melvin Scott totaled 12 on four 3-pointers.
The Terrapins trail in the all-time series by a 110-53 margin, but have won the last six matchups in College Park. Maryland has also won five of the last eight meetings (.625), six of the last 11 (.545), and 12 of the last 24 (.500).
Terp Streaks & Storylines
Terrapin head coach Gary Williams -- who received his second national coach of the week honor from ESPN's Dick Vitale on Feb. 14 -- is the conference's second-active winningest head man with an overall record of 538-302 and a 331-174 record as Maryland's head coach. Williams is in fifth place outright on the ACC's all-time wins list, is ranked fourth all-time in victories over ACC league teams (139) and is one of only two mentors currently in the league that have captured the NCAA title. He is also the ACC's second-longest tenured active head coach (16 seasons).
Under Williams, Maryland has defeated 61 Top 25 teams, including No. 25/24 Memphis (Nov. 26, 84-61), No. 2/2 Duke (Jan. 26, 75-66), No. 22/21 Georgia Tech (Jan. 30, 79-71) and No. 7/8 Duke (Feb. 12, 99-92 OT) this season. The Terps have downed 24 Top 10 opponents, 15 Top 5 foes and the No. 1 team in the nation five times under Maryland's mentor. Williams has led the Terps to victory over the No. 3, No. 2 or No. 1 team in the nation in each of the last six seasons.
Junior guard Chris McCray has been one of the most consistent Terrapins over the course of 2004-05, always charged with guarding the opponent's best perimeter player while remaining among the ACC's Top 25 scorers all year long. In the last six games, McCray is averaging 17.3 points , 4.7 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 1.7 steals. He has fired at a 44.6 percent clip from the field and has made 39 percent of his 3-pointers as well across that stretch, all while sinking 96 percent of his free throws. McCray currently leads the ACC and is in second place nationally, only behind SW Missouri State's Blake Ahearn (95.3) in free throw shooting, hitting at 93.8 percent (75-of-80). Duke's J.J. Redick is second in the ACC (93.1 percent).
Terrapin junior forward Nik Caner-Medley, named ESPN.com's National Player of the Week by Andy Katz on Jan. 31 after the wins over Duke and Georgia Tech, leads the Terps in scoring at 17.0 ppg. He is averaging 20.3 ppg in the last three games and 19.3 ppg across the last 13 contests, shooting .487 from the field while grabbing 7.3 rebounds per game, dishing 2.3 assists and making 1.2 steals. Caner-Medley has led the Terps in scoring 12 times this season, and has registered more than 20 points in nine games on the year, including six of the past 12 contests.
Junior point guard and Feb. 14 ACC Player of the Week John Gilchrist is averaging 15.8 points, 6.8 rebounds and 6.4 assists over the last five games, including a 22-points, nine-rebound, six-assist effort at Virginia, a 19-point, 10-assist double-double against Virginia Tech (Feb. 8) and a 19-point, 10-rebound, nine-assist performance against Duke (Feb. 12). Gilchrist's career-high 10 assists against the Hokies helped him become the first Terp to post a double-double in scoring and assists since Steve Blake in 2003, while his near triple-double against the Blue Devils would have made him the first Maryland player since Derrick Lewis in 1987 to accomplish that feat. Gilchrist currently ranks second in the ACC in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.1) and third in assists (5.6 apg).
Sophomore D.J. Strawberry, who was listed among the ACC's steals leaders, has been sidelined with a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) since Jan. 19. Smooth-shooting sophomore guard Mike Jones and junior combo-guard Sterling Ledbetter have stepped up in his place. Jones scored 15 points with five rebounds in only 18 minutes against Duke (Feb. 12), at one point staging his own personal 8-0 scoring run. Jones is averaging 8.3 ppg across the last 12 games, and his 10.2 ppg average in the last five contests includes a 54.5 shooting performance from the field and a 40.0 percent success rate from beyond the arc. Ledbetter has proven to be solid at the point or two-guard positions, grabbing a career-high seven rebounds at Virginia (Feb. 19) and scoring a career-high 10 points against Clemson (Feb. 1).
At 83.0 points per game, the Terps own one of the most potent scoring offenses in the nation. The Terps are ranked third in the ACC in scoring offense, behind only national leader UNC (89.9 ppg) and Wake Forest (85.9 ppg). As of Feb. 21, the Terps were sixth in all of NCAA Division I.
Maryland has made a significant improvement at the free throw line, ranking third in the 11-team ACC with a .724 mark from the line after finishing ninth (.631) in 2003-04. McCray, Travis Garrison, Caner-Medley and Gilchrist all rank in the ACC's Top 15 shooters at the line.
On Deck
The Terp conclude their regular season at Virginia Tech on Sat., March 5 at 4 p.m.
