Feb. 16, 2009
CLEMSON, S.C. -
Maryland has an early-week matchup on the road with Clemson, which was ranked 11th in last week's ESPN/USA Today coaches poll and 12th in last week's Associated Press listing. The Tigers lost Sunday at Virginia in overtime, 85-81, with the new polls coming out late Monday afternoon.
* The Terrapins are 16-8 and 5-5 in the Atlantic Coast Conference after Saturday's 83-73 victory over Virginia Tech. The game against the Hokies was the first of four Maryland will play against teams that were among the top teams in the league. The Terps travel to Clemson on Tuesday, then return home to face North Carolina and Duke in back-to-back matchups at Comcast Center. Maryland is now 13-2 at home this season.
* Maryland has won 3 of its last 4 games, earning victories over Miami, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech and losing at North Carolina despite scoring a season-high 91 points in the Smith Center. The Terps come into Tuesday's game in eighth place in the ACC with a 5-5 mark, but are only one game behind a four-way tie for third that includes Clemson. Maryland is at .500 in the league for the first time since opening ACC play with a home win over Georgia Tech followed by a two-point loss at Miami.
* The Terrapins are facing a ranked team for the 6th time this season. Maryland earned an 80-62 victory over then-No. 5 Michigan State in the opening round of the Old Spice Classic in Orlando on Thanksgiving Night (11/27).
Noting the Tigers
Clemson is led in scoring and rebounding by talented junior forward Trevor Booker... Booker averages 15.2 points and 8.9 rebounds per game, also leading the Tigers in blocked shots, with 56... Booker is hitting .559 from the field this season...
Senior guard K.C. Rivers is second on the team in scoring at 14.4 points per game and is pulling down 6.2 rebounds per outing... .He has 49 3-pointers this season and leads the Tigers in minutes (30.6 mpg)...
Sharpshooting sophomore Terrence Oglesby is the third Clemson player averaging in double figures with a 13.5 ppg average... He has hit 72 3-pointers in the Tigers' 24 games, hitting .411 from behindd the arc...
Sophomore Demontez Stitt leads Clemson in assists with 86... The Tigers have started the same lineup in each of their 24 games this season, with senior forward Raymond Sykes (8.4 ppg, 5.5 rpg) as the fifth starter...
Clemson has lost 2 of its last 3 following a 3-game winning streak that included a 74-47 home win over Duke (2/4)... The Tigers are outscoring their opponents by 12.5 points per game and are creating 17.7 turnovers by their opponents this season (+3.8 turnover margin).
Gary Williams' 20th Season
Head coach Gary Williams reaches another in a career filled with milestones when he coaches his alma mater for the 20th season in 2008-09...
He is the 6th-winningest active head coach in NCAA Division I men's basketball with an overall record of 620-351 (.639)... He ranks 3rd all-time (2nd active) among coaches at ACC schools with 413 victories at Maryland, and also ranks 2nd among active league coaches with 170 ACC victories... Williams is the Terps' all-time winningest coach...
He earned his 400th victory at his alma mater on 11/21 with an overtime win over Vermont... His 397 wins in 19 years at the beginning of the season were an average of 20.9 wins per season with the Terps...
Maryland's 70-65 victory over Boston College (2/6/2008) gave Williams his 600th career victory... Only six other active head coaches in Division I have 600 career wins...
Williams picked up his 400th victory at Maryland against Vermont (11/21)... The milestone came in dramatic fashion, as Vasquez buried a 3-pointer with 6 seconds left to force overtime... The Terps scored the first 17 points of the extra period, earning the most lopsided OT victory in school history with a 17-2 edge in the extra session... Williams picked up the victory over former assistant Mike Lonergan, now in his 4th season as head coach at Vermont.
Milestones, Streaks, etc.
Maryland has hit at least one 3-pointer in 344 consecutive games.
The Terps are 62-6 in non-conference games since moving into Comcast Center.
Maryland has won at least 19 games in 12 straight seasons.
The Terps have made 15 consecutive postseason appearances.
Maryland's last losing season came in 1992-93, the last season of devastating NCAA sanctions levied against previous staffs at Maryland... Each school in the ACC has had a losing season since the Terps fell below .500 some 15 seasons ago... In fact, 9 of the 11 ACC opponents have suffered through a losing season since the Terps won the NCAA title in 2002... Duke and UNC are the exceptions.
Between 2004-05 and 2007-08, Maryland won 82 games, an average of 20.5 per season... That matches the number of wins that Gary Williams directed during the first four seasons (1994-97) of Maryland's run of 11 straight NCAA Tournaments.
Looking Ahead
Maryland's next three games are against opponents ranked among the best in the nation...
Following Tuesday's game at Clemson, the Terrapins come back to Comcast Center to face the top two teams in the league standings - 3rd-ranked North Carolina on Feb. 21 and No. 5 Duke on Feb. 25 (note: rankings as of last week... new rankings due late Monday)...
The Terrapins' remaining home schedule also includes 7th-ranked Wake Forest on March 3... Three of Maryland's final five games of the season are at Comcast, where the Terps are 13-2 coming into today's game.
Head Coach Gary Williams Quotes - Monday, Feb. 16
On playing the Clemson Tigers:
"When you walk out on the floor at Clemson, it's a tough place [to play]. It's as tough as anywhere in the league now. You have to be ready to play your best game. If you're not, the momentum they get by playing at home can take you out of the game early. We have to be ready to go right at the start of the game. We don't need any artificial stimulus. We're playing a top-20 team on their court, and we have to handle that.
On Clemson's ability to press on defense:
"A lot of times when you press, teams won't press you. But Clemson has a very successful style of play, so they don't care who they play - they're going to press as part of their defensive strategy. We have to be ready for that."
On the leadership provided by senior Dave Neal:
"It's important that you have veteran leadership. It doesn't have to necessarily be seniors. But Dave (Neal), being our only senior, is put in a position where I think some of the younger players really look at him to see how he handles things, especially when things don't go well. When you're rolling, it doesn't matter if you have seniors or not. But when things get tough sometimes, your leadership steps up - hopefully not even just on the floor but in the locker room."
On Clemson guard Terrence Oglesby:
"I see him passing more. I think he's a better passer this year because teams are running at him. He built a reputation, and what he did here last year certainly helped his reputation. Teams know that he's a great shooter, so teams are going to counter that each year you're in the league. The great ones still produce, and he's having a very good year."
On being proud of his team's recent performances:
"For us to be here right now where we are on Feb. 16, it's good. I'm enjoying coaching this team. These players are great guys, and I've said that a lot. They show up every day. We'll have a great practice today. I'm very confident of that."
On Maryland's ability to persevere through conference play:
"I think the two Florida losses were important because we didn't quit. In other words, they were two really tough losses that early in the season. You had a chance to jump out 3-0 in the league and you're 1-2. That'd be very easy to just go away because of that, but we stayed tough...I learned we'd be alright in terms of continuing to work."
