Feb. 20, 2009

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Maryland returns to Comcast Center Saturday for the first of back-to-back home games against Top-10 teams when the Terrapins play host to 3rd-ranked North Carolina on national television. The Terrapins are now 16-9 overall and 5-6 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, one game out of seventh place in the conference.

North Carolina has won 10 straight games and comes to Comcast Center with a 24-2 record overall and a 10-2 mark in the ACC. The Tar Heels hold a 2-1/2 game lead in the conference standings over four teams that are tied for second.

* The Terrapins are 13-2 at Comcast Center this season and come into the game with a 3-2 record in their last five games. One of the losses was a 108-91 defeat to the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill on Feb. 3. Maryland is the only team in the ACC this season which faces home-and-home contests with both North Carolina and Duke, which is ranked 9th in the nation this week. The Terps and Blue Devils have their annual Comcast Center meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 25.

* Maryland's Greivis Vasquez continues to lead the Terrapins in a number of categories this year. The junior guard from Caracas, Venezuela, is the Terps' leader in scoring (16.0 points per game), assists (4.4 per game), steals (1.40 per game), 3-pointers (44) and free-throw shooting (.887). Vasquez has led the ACC and has been among the nation's leaders in free-throw percentage all season.

* The Terrapins continue to excel at the free-throw line as a team this season. Maryland enters today's game with a .773 percentage, tops in the ACC (North Carolina is 2nd at .759). Of the seven Terrapins who have made at least 15 free throws this season, each have hit at least 72 percent of their foul shots this season. Maryland remains on pace to challenge the school record of .758 set by the 1976 team.

* Under head coach Gary Williams, Maryland has had an outstanding record against ranked teams. The Terrapins have defeated 19 Top-5 opponents, 31 Top-10 opponents and the No. 1 team six times in Williams' 20 years in College Park. The Terps have beaten at least one Top-10 opponent in 16 of 20 seasons under Williams, including 13 straight years. Maryland already owns a win over then-5th-ranked Michigan State this season.

* Consensus Preseason Player of the Year Tyler Hansbrough continues to live up to his advance billing for North Carolina this season. The senior forward leads the ACC in scoring at 21.4 points per game and is one of five Tar Heels averaging in double figures. Hansbrough is also 10th in the league and tops on the Tar Heels in rebounding with a 7.5 rpg average. Offensively, Carolina is averaging 91.7 points per game this year, nearly 10 points per game higher than the next-best team in the ACC (Wake Forest, 82.1).

* Junior guard Ty Lawson averages 15.9 points and an ACC-best 6.5 assists per game for UNC and is shooting 56 percent from the field. Wayne Ellington averages 15.1 points per game for UNC, while Danny Greene is at 13.6 points per game and has a team-high 56 3-pointers thus far. Deon Thompson is the fifth Tar Heel averaging in double figures at 11.2 points per game.

Maryland Head Coach Gary Williams Quotes - Friday, 2/20

On playing defense against North Carolina:
"If you look at the last game [against North Carolina] we had the same number of field goals, but they were on fire from the 3-point line. But if you worry too much about that, then you have (Tyler) Hanbrough and the other inside players that are very capable of scoring, so there's no easy way to play against a good team. They're the third-ranked team in the country, and obviously very good."

On the keys to playing strong defense:
"I thought our effort was good at Carolina. You're talking about guys who can play. Effort is important, but our defense and technique to stop whatever we need to stop has to be there, depending on who we play. Some teams we want to double-down all the time, and some teams we want to really get out on the 3-point line. What you work on leading up to the game, hopefully you'll be able to execute that. But the effort has to be automatic in today's game, especially in our league this year."

On having an opportunity to earn a statement victory:
"Any time you play a ranked team and you're not ranked, you can make a statement. In other words, UNC Charlotte had a good win over Xavier last night. That shows that they're playing well right now. It'd be nice to get this win, but obviously that's not enough alone. You have to sustain it this time of year. That's what we're trying to do. Before our last game, we had a pretty good run with winning three out of four. We'd like to get back on that run again."

On convincing his team to believe in itself:
"As a coach you have to get your team to believe that it can do certain things and try to get it done. That's part of the thing I like as a coach - trying to get the team to understand that the possibility is always there...You really have to be positive and make sure the players understand that this is the situation that's still left for us."

On approaching the game vs.the Tar Heels:
"You have to score however you can score. Whatever you're good at - whether it's 3-point shooting, scoring in transition, second shots or free-throw shooting - you have to take advantage of what you do. Hopefully we can do that, but obviously you have to stop Carolina. I think they're the best team in the country at scoring after the other team scores. They do a great job of riding the ball up court, and if you were happy because you scored, you won't be happy for more than five or six seconds because the ball will be in the basket."

On Jerome Burney's return from injury during Tuesday's game at Clemson:
"He was great for his first time out. He got some rebounds for us. It gives us another big guy, and that's important for our upcoming games that he can give us some minutes."