March 4, 2005
Virginia Tech Game Notes in PDF Format
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COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The Maryland basketball team (16-10, 7-8 ACC) hits the road for its regular-season finale as the Terrapins take on Virginia Tech (14-12, 7-8 ACC) in Blacksburg on Saturday. The Terps look to separate themselves from the jam-packed middle of the ACC standings when they take on the Hokies at 4 p.m. at Virginia Tech's Cassell Coliseum. The game will be televised on the Raycom/Jefferson Pilot Network; UPN-20 (WDCA) in Washington, D.C., and WB-54 (WNUV) in the Baltimore area. Former Maryland football linebacker Tim Brant (Journalism `73) and former Clemson and Auburn coach Cliff Ellis call the action as the Terps wrap up the regular season with the critical road matchup.
A spirited Terrapin effort came up just short on Sunday as Maryland took the No. 2 team in the nation, North Carolina, down to the last shot in an 85-83 loss. Junior Chris McCray was brilliant, making 7-of-12 field goals and drilling a career-best five 3-pointers en route to a career-high 25-point performance. The Terps' starting two-guard grabbed six rebounds, dished five assists and nailed all six of his free throw attempts as well, extending a team-high double-figure scoring streak to nine games. Junior forward Nik Caner-Medley added 16 points and five boards, while point man John Gilchrist scored 13 with five assists. Sophomore sharpshooter Mike Jones provided a spark for the Terps off the bench, tying a career-high by nailing four shots from long range for 12 points. The Terrapins made 65 percent of their 3-pointers and 92 percent of their free throws, but were narrowly edged by the Tar Heels.
Caner-Medley and Gilchrist became the 40th and 41st Terrapins to reach the 1,000-career point plateau by scoring 16 and 13 points, respectively, against North Carolina. Caner-Medley has now amassed 1,012 career points, while Gilchrist totals 1,007. The two rank 18th and 19th among all current ACC scorers.
Terrapin head coach Gary Williams celebrated his 60th birthday on Friday, March 4. He is the second-winningest active mentor in the ACC, and fifth in league history, with 331 victories as Maryland's head coach. He is one of two active ACC coaches to have captured the national championship.
The Terrapins are currently the No. 42-rated team in the latest RPI report listed on ESPN.com, with the ninth-strongest schedule in the nation. Maryland is the fifth-ranked team in the ACC according to the report, with the third-toughest strength of schedule among conference squads. 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.
Virginia Tech is 14-12 and 7-8 in the conference after falling at Clemson, 66-64, on Tuesday. Senior Carlos Dixon, the Hokies' second-leading scorer at 13.7 ppg, tallied 25 points and hit three 3-pointers in the loss. Guard Zabian Dowdell, who leads Virginia Tech in scoring at 14.9 ppg, scored 12 points, as did forward Deron Washington. Maryland holds a 24-4 advantage over the Hokies in the all-time series, including an 86-71 victory in College Park on Feb. 8 of this year. Prior to that meeting, the two schools had not faced each other since the 1990-91 season.
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 538-303 and a 331-175 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 seven games, McCray is averaging 18.4 points, 4.7 assists, 4.1 rebounds and 1.6 steals. He has fired at a 46.5 percent clip from the field and has made 46.9 percent of his 3-pointers as well across that stretch, all while sinking 96.9 percent of his free throws. McCray currently leads the ACC and is in second place nationally, only behind SW Missouri State's Blake Ahearn (95.2) in free throw shooting, hitting at 94.2 percent (81-of-86). Duke's J.J. Redick is second in the ACC (93.4 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 16.9 ppg. He is averaging 19.3 ppg in the last four games and 19.1 ppg across the last 14 contests, shooting .478 from the field while grabbing 7.1 rebounds per game, dishing 2.1 assists and making 1.1 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 13 contests.
Junior point guard and Feb. 14 ACC Player of the Week John Gilchrist is averaging 15.3 points, 6.2 assists and 6.0 rebounds over the last six games, including a 22-point, nine-rebound, six-assist effort at Virginia (Feb. 19), 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 (2.2) and third in assists (5.5 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 12 points in 13 minutes against UNC (Feb. 27) and tallied 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 9.9 ppg across the last seven games, including a 49.0 percent 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 (89.7 ppg) and Wake Forest (86.4 ppg). As of Feb. 28, the Terps were fifth in all of NCAA Division I.
Maryland has made a significant improvement at the free throw line, now leading the 11-team ACC with a .728 mark from the line after finishing ninth (.631) in 2003-04. McCray (.942), Travis Garrison (.840), Caner-Medley (.772) and Gilchrist (.744) all rank among the ACC's Top 15 shooters from the charity stripe.
On Deck
The ACC Tournament comes to Washington, D.C., from March 10-13.
National Prominence
The 2004-05 Terrapins look to continue a school-record by earning a berth in the 2005 NCAA Tournament. Maryland is currently riding a streak of 11 straight NCAA appearances since 1994, including seven trips to the Sweet Sixteen during that time span, Final Four appearances in 2001 and 2002, and the 2002 national title.
Maryland is one of only five Division I basketball programs -- and the only basketball team in the ACC -- that has appeared in the last 11 NCAA Tournaments. Arizona, Cincinnati, Kansas and Kentucky are the others.
Maryland is one of only 13 NCAA Division I teams that is currently riding a streak of at least eight-straight 20-win seasons.
Maryland finished the 2004 season ranked 19th in the AP Poll, marking the Terps' eighth-straight Top 25 finish. The Terrapins are currently receiving votes in the AP and USA Today/ESPN Coaches Polls.
The Terps are No. 42 in the latest RPI report, with the ninth -toughest schedule in the nation. Six of the Terps' wins are against teams in the RPI Top 100, and not one of the Terps' losses are to a team outside the RPI Top 100. The ACC has been the top-rated conference in the nation all season long with an unprecedented ranking in the RPI. Maryland is currently fifth in the league, with the third-toughest schedule.
