Terps Face Second-Seeded Memphis on Saturday

March 20, 2009

Maryland-Memphis Game Notes (PDF) | NCAA Tournament Interactive Bracket

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Maryland continues play in the West Regional on Saturday in a second-round matchup with 2nd-seeded Memphis. The game will tip off at 3:20 p.m. EDT in Kansas City and be broadcast nationally on CBS. It can also be heard on the Terrapin Sports Radio Network (note: due to NCAA contractual arrangements, audio will not be streamed on umterps.com). The pregame radio show begins at 2:20 p.m. The Terrapins come into the game with a 21-13 mark, including wins in 3 of their last 4 games (all in the postseeason). The Terps knocked out No. 7-seed California, 84-71, on Thursday in a first-round game.

* The Terrapins' victory over the Golden Bears was their 9th straight in the first round of an NCAA Tournament. Maryland's last loss in a first round came in 1997, when it lost to Charleston, 75-66.

* Maryland will be attempting to reach the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2003. That season, the year following the NCAA National Championship run, the 6th-seeded Terrapins beat UNC Wilmington (75-73) and Xavier (77-64) in Nashville, but lost in a South Region semifinal to Michigan State (60-58) in San Antonio.

* Maryland's 7 Sweet Sixteen appearances since 1994 place it in a tie for 7th nationally. Kansas and Duke lead that list with 10 Sweet Sixteen slots since 1994.

* Greivis Vasquez's 27 points Thursday against Cal was tied for 9th on Maryland's all-time list of highest-scoring NCAA games. Juan Dixon had 33 points in the national semifinal with Kansas in 2002 for the school's record in NCAA Tournament games.

The NCAA Tournament

Maryland, the 2002 NCAA Champion, is the 10th seed in the 2009 West Regional, marking the second time the Terps have earned a 10-seed in the tournament... The last time was in 1994 when the Terps beat St. Louis, 74-67, and 2nd-seeded Massachusetts, 95-87, en route to a Sweet Sixteen loss to No. 3 Michigan, 78-71.

Maryland is 37-21 in its 23rd appearance in the tournament... Maryland is making its 13th appearance under head coach Gary Williams, who is 28-14 all-time in NCAA games and 24-11 all-time in NCAA games while at Maryland... Williams also took Boston College (1983, 1985) and Ohio State (1987) to the Big Dance...

Four Terrapins - Dave Neal, Greivis Vasquez, Eric Hayes and Landon Milbourne - were on the Maryland team that last appeared in the NCAAs in 2007.

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 625-356 (.637)... He ranks 3rd all-time (2nd active) among coaches at ACC schools with 418 victories at Maryland, and also ranks 2nd among active league coaches with 172 ACC victories... Williams is the Terps' all-time winningest coach...

Williams came into the 2009 NCAA Tournament in 7th place among active coaches in tournament victories with 27.

He earned his 400th victory at his alma mater on 11/21 with an overtime win over Vermont... His 418 wins in 20 years are 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 354 consecutive games.

The Terps are 62-6 in non-conference games in Comcast Center.

Maryland has won at least 19 games in 13 straight seasons.

The Terps have made 16 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.

Maryland Among ACC's Best Last Ten Years

Maryland has been one of the top programs in the ACC over the past 10 seasons:

With 107 victories since 1999, Maryland is 3rd among all ACC schools in regular-season conference wins.

Head coach Gary Williams ranks 2nd among active ACC coaches with 172 career wins in league play.

The Terps captured the 2002 ACC regular-season title & the 2004 ACC Tourney championship.

Maryland owns the league's best record in games against Duke and North Carolina over the past 10-plus seasons. The Terps are 20-28 in games against Duke and Carolina since the 1998-99 season... No other ACC team has more than 14 wins against the Blue Devils and Tar Heels in that time.

Tough Schedule

Between playing in the Atlantic Coast Conference (currently ranked 1st as a league in the Sagarin Computer Ratings) and facing three ranked teams in the 2008 Old Spice Classic, the Maryland men's basketball schedule is formidable:

This season, Maryland faced 11 teams that have made the NCAA Tournament field... Memphis will be No. 12.

In this week's rankings, 6 Terrapin opponents for 2008-09 are currently ranked in the Top 11 in the ESPN/USA Today poll (#2 North Carolina, #3 Memphis, #5 Duke, #7 Michigan State, #10 Gonzaga, #11 Wake Forest).

8 Terrapin opponents for 2008-09 were ranked among the Top 25 teams in the coaches poll (previous schools along with #16 Florida State and #21 Clemson).

9 Terrapin opponents for 2008-09 were either ranked or received votes in the Associated Press poll, including American.

The Memphis game will mark the 9th Maryland has played 8 against teams ranked in the Top-10 at the time of the contest... That's the most since the 2000-01 Final Four team played 10 Top-10 opponents.

Maryland is the lone ACC team that faced conference home-and-home series with North Carolina and Duke... The Terps also played twice in the regular season against Miami.

Maryland vs. Ranked Teams Under Gary Williams

Since Gary Williams took over in 1989-90, Maryland has 70 wins over Top-25 teams, including the 80-62 victory over then-5th-ranked Michigan State on Thanksgiving Night, an 88-85 overtime victory over #3 North Carolina and Friday's 75-64 win over #8 Wake Forest in the ACC Quarterfinals.

Williams is the nation's winningest active coach vs. top-ranked teams with seven career victories over a No. 1 opponent (6 at Maryland; 1 at Ohio State).

Under Williams, Maryland has defeated 19 Top-5 opponents, 33 Top-10 opponents and the No. 1 team 6 times.

Maryland has 22 wins over Top-10 teams the last 9 years.

The Terps have defeated at least one Top-10 opponent in 16 of 20 seasons under Williams, including 13 straight.

Williams has led victories over 1st-, 2nd- or 3rd-ranked teams in 8 of the last 10 seasons.

Players Mentioned

Eric Hayes

Landon Milbourne

Dave Neal

Greivis Vasquez

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