March 8, 2005
Clemson ACC Game Notes in PDF Format
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COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
The Maryland basketball team (16-11, 7-9 ACC) begins the defense of its 2004 ACC Tournament Championship when the eighth-seeded Terrapins take on the ninth-seeded Clemson Tigers (15-14, 5-11 ACC) at noon on Thursday at MCI Center. The 52nd annual edition of the ACC Tournament takes place in the nation's capital area for the fourth time in history (1976, 1981, 1987 at the Captial Centre in Landover, Md.) and the first time in 17 seasons. The Terrapins, who made an incredible run in last year's conference championship tournament, look to get back to their winning ways and erase a pair of regular-season losses at the hands of the Tigers in Thursday's matchup. 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 broadcasting legend and former Wake Forest standout Billy Packer call the action.
The Terrapins are currently the No. 48-rated team in the latest RPI report listed on ESPN.com, with the eighth-strongest schedule in the nation. Maryland is the fifth-ranked team in the ACC according to the report, with the fourth-toughest strength of schedule among conference squads. The Terps have notched five victories over Top 100 RPI teams, and four wins over teams ranked in the AP and USA Today/ESPN Top 25.
Maryland is 40-47 all-time in the ACC Tournament after the Terps' three victories en route to the tournament championship a season ago. Maryland plays as the No. 8 seed in the ACC Tournament for the fifth time in history, looking to improve upon a 3-4 mark all-time as the No. 8 seed.
Last time out, The Terrapins came back from a 13-point first half deficit at Virginia Tech (March 5) to tie the game in the second period, could not quite break through as they fell to the Hokies, 86-76. Junior guard Chris McCray scored a team-high tying 18 points, grabbed a team-best seven boards, dished three assists and made three steals. Rookie forward James Gist scored a career-high 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting, while Nik Caner-Medley added 12 and John Gilchrist contributed 11 points, seven assists and six boards. The Terrapins, who lead the ACC in free throw percentage (73 percent), made 19-of-22 (86 percent) attempts from the line.
Clemson is 15-14 overall (5-11 ACC) after falling, 64-56, at Georgia Tech on March 5. Tiger senior forward Sharrod Ford (Suitland, Md.), who netted 22 points against Tech, leads Clemson in scoring (15.6 ppg) and rebounding (8.3 rpg). Despite losses to the Tigers (88-73, Feb. 1 at Clemson and 97-93, Feb. 22 in College Park), the Terrapins lead the series, 84-44, and have won 13 of the last 15 games against the Tigers. Maryland has not faced the Tigers in the ACC tournament since the quarterfinals in 1997, and the Terps hold a 9-1 advantage in tournament games. Clemson head coach Oliver Purnell was an assistant coach at Maryland under "Lefty" Driesell from 1985-86 to 1987-88.
Terp Streaks & Storylines
Head coach Gary Williams (Maryland `68), who was the Terrapins' point guard in the 1965-67 ACC Tournaments, owns a 14-13 (.519) ACC tourney record as a coach. He is the only current coach in the conference that also participated in the ACC Tournament as a player.
Williams is the conference's second-active winningest head man with an overall record of 538-304 and a 331-176 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).
Last March, 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 to the NCAA Tournament. All-time, the Terps captured the ACC Tournament title in 1958, 1984 and 2004.
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 eight games, McCray is averaging 18.4 points, 4.5 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 1.8 steals. He has fired at a 47.5 percent clip from the field and has made 45.9 percent of his 3-pointers across that stretch, all while sinking 97.1 percent of his free throws. McCray currently leads the ACC and is in second place nationally in free throw shooting, only behind SW Missouri State's Blake Ahearn (95.2), hitting at 94.3 percent (83-of-88). Duke's J.J. Redick is second in the ACC (93.3 percent).
All-ACC third team member Nik Caner-Medley, who was 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 16.7 ppg. He is averaging 18.6 ppg across the last 15 contests, shooting .471 from the field while grabbing 6.8 rebounds per game and dishing 2.1 assists. 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 14 contests.
Honorable mention All-ACC selection and two-time ACC Player of the Week John Gilchrist is averaging 14.7 points, 6.3 assists and 6.0 rebounds over the last four 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 third in the ACC in assists per game (5.6).
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 9.6 ppg across the last eight games, including a 45.0 percent shooting performance from the field. 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 82.7 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 (89.3 ppg) and Wake Forest (85.4 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 .732 mark from the line after finishing ninth (.631) in 2003-04. McCray (.943), Travis Garrison (.840), Caner-Medley (.766) and Gilchrist (.744) all rank among the ACC's Top 15 shooters from the charity stripe.
On Deck
The ACC Tournament continues in Washington, D.C., from March 10-13.
