Terrapins Take On Bears Thursday Night
12/4/2007 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 4, 2007
The University of Maryland (5-3) takes on Morgan State (4-3) Thursday (December 6) at Comcast Center. Tipoff between the Terps and Bears is set for 8:00 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast on the Terrapin Sports Radio Network and will be televised by Comcast SportsNet.
• Maryland holds a 4-0 lead in the all-time series. The last meeting was a 138-72 victory for the Terps on November 23, 1994.
• The Terrapins' average margin of victory in the four games over Morgan State is 35.3.
Maryland head coach Gary Williams is tied as the seventh-winningest active head coach in NCAA Division I men's basketball with an overall record of 590-331 (.642). He ranks second among active ACC coaches with 383 wins at Maryland (3rd overall) and also ranks second among active league coaches with 157 ACC victories. Williams is the Terps' all-time winningest coach.
• Williams is just 10 wins shy of 600 career victories. Only five active head coaches in Division I have 600 career wins.
Senior Bambale Osby recorded a double-double for Maryland, as the Terrapins fell to VCU, 85-76, Sunday evening in the 13th Annual BB&T Classic at Verizon Center in Washington D.C. Osby's 17 points was a career high. He added two blocked shots and one steal in 27 minutes against the Rams.
• Sophomore Greivis Vasquez scored 19 points and dished out three assists in 33 minutes, while backcourt teammate Eric Hayes finished with seven points, seven assists and five rebounds against VCU.
• Senior James Gist scored nine points and grabbed eight rebounds to go with one blocked shot, one assist, and one steal.
• Sophomore Landon Milbourne scored a career-high 10 points and added five rebounds in 33 minutes.
• Maryland enjoyed a 40-30 advantage in rebounds and scored 13 second-chance points against VCU. The Terrapins outscored the Rams, 28-21 off the bench.
• The Terps connected on 30 of 34 free throw attempts.
Defense has been a constant for the Terrapins through eight games this season. Maryland is third in the ACC and 35th in the nation in field goal percentage defense, as the Terrapins have limited their opponents to just 38 percent shooting from the field.
• Maryland is third in the league and 17th in the nation in blocked shots. The Terps average 6.38 blocked shots per game. Bambale Osby is fifth in the league with 2.14 blocks per game, while James Gist is sixth in the ACC with 2.00 blocks per contest.
• The Terrapins are fourth in the ACC in three-point field goal percentage defense. Maryland has limited its opponents to 30 percent shooting from beyond the arc.
Despite preparing for final examinations and participating in prestigious regular season tournaments over the years, Maryland has excelled during the month of December under Gary Williams. His Terrapins have posted an all-time record of 97-33 (.752) in the last month of the calendar.
• Williams guided the Terps to an unblemished mark of 8-0 during December of 2000.
Three of Maryland's starters are among the top 11 players in the ACC for minutes played per contest. Sophomore Greivis Vasquez is third, averaging 36.50 minutes per contest.
• Sophomore guard Eric Hayes is fifth in the ACC in minutes per game (35.50), while senior James Gist is 11th (32.29).
Senior James Gist is poised to join elite company in the storied history of Maryland Basketball:
• Gist needs 17 points to become the 46th player in school history to reach 1,000 career points.
• His scoring average has increased each season, as he is averaging a career-best 13.4 points per game this year.
• With his 574 career rebounds, Gist is poised to become just the 22nd player in school history to tally 1,000 points and 500 rebounds.
• Gist is eighth on Maryland's all-time blocked shots list with 168 rejections.
• The Silver Spring native was named a preseason Wooden Award candidate.
• Gist spend the summer as a member of the USA's Pan Am Games team which earned a fifth-place finish in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Sophomore guard Eric Hayes has built on an impressive freshman season and has continued his development for the Terrapins:
• Hayes has scored in double figures in five of Maryland's eight games this season.
• He is second on the team with 42 assists and leads the squad with 12 steals.
• Hayes is ninth in the ACC in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.91).
• Hayes tallied 15 points against North Florida in the season opener and posted a personal-best seven rebounds against Missouri. He set a new career high with 18 points against Illinois.
• He leads the team and ranks eighth in the ACC in free throw shooting. Hayes has connected on 89 percent (23 of 26) of his attempts from the foul line.
Sophomore guard Greivis Vasquez enjoyed a breakout season as a freshman in 2006-07 and has improved in 2007-08:
• Vasquez averages a team-high 16.3 points per game. As a freshman he scored 9.8 points per game.
• He has topped his career high twice this season. He set a new career high with 21 points against Hampton before scoring 22 against Lehigh. He has scored in double digits in six of eight games this year.
• Vasquez leads the team with 43 assists and has dished out at least five assists in three games this year. He has recorded 10 assists twice (Northeastern and Illinois).
• He has improved his rebounding from 3.3 per game as a freshman to 5.4 this season.
• Vasquez is averaging a team-high 36.5 minutes per game.
• Vasquez spent the summer as a member of the Venezuelan National team which competed in the FIBA Americas Championships in Las Vegas during August.
• Named to the 2008 Cousy Award Preseason List.
Freshman Braxton Dupree was inserted into Maryland's starting lineup against Lehigh and has responded with increased production:
• After scoring nine points in his first five games, Dupree has averaged 9.0 points and 3.7 rebounds in his last three games as a starter.
• Dupree scored a season-high 14 points in his first game as a starter against Lehigh.
• In his second start against Illinois, Dupree scored 10 points.
Maryland has been a dominant home team over the years.
• The Terps are 783-276 (.738) all-time at home dating back to 1923-24.
• Maryland went 17-2 (89.5%) at home last season and is 77-14 (.843) all-time at Comcast Center. The Terps have won 38 of their last 43 at home dating back to 2003-04.
• The Terps are 232-49 (.823) at home under Gary Williams (155-35 at Cole Field House).
• Maryland is 130-19 (.871) at home the last 10 seasons (since 1998-99).
• Maryland has won 43 of its last 44 non-conference games at Comcast Center under Williams.
• The Terps are 130-2 (.985) in non-conference home games under Williams.
• Maryland was 476-151 in 47 seasons at Cole Field House; 169-90 in 24 seasons at Ritchie Coliseum and 61-21 in eight seasons at The Gymnasium.
Maryland has proven to be one of the nation's most proficient 3-point shooting teams since the rule was instituted in 1987.
• Maryland has made at least one 3-pointer in 294 consecutive games.
• Maryland has failed to make a 3-pointer just twice in the last 363 games.
• The last game the Terps failed to make a 3-pointer was Jan 7, 1999 when Maryland went 0-for-7 from 3-point range in a 71-66 win at Virginia.
• Since Gary Williams took over, Maryland has hit a 3-pointer in 579 of 586 games.
• Since the rule was instituted in 1987, Maryland has hit at least one three-pointer in 637 of 646 games.
• Maryland made a school-record 217 treys in 2001-02.
• The Terps' top 3-point shooting percentage was 46.1% (122-290) in 1987-88.
• Maryland set new school records for most three-pointers in a game (17) and most three-point attempts (37) last season against Missouri-Kansas City.
