April 29, 2009

BERLIN, Germany - Three University of Maryland men's basketball alumni will be in action this weekend when the Euroleague Championships hit the final four mark.

Terence Morris will play for CSKA Moscow against Regal FC Barcelona at noon EST on Friday, May 1, while Drew Nicholas and Sarunas Jasikevicius will take their Panathinaikos team into the second semifinal against Greek League rival Olympiacos at 3 p.m. EST.

Both games will be available on NBA TV, as well as on the Internet on ESPN360.

The championship and third-place games will be on Sunday, May 3.

The Euroleague consists of 24 top teams from around Europe, including squads from Turkey and Israel. Teams go through three levels of competition to reach the playoffs. Panathinakos eliminated Montepaschi Siena of Italy, three games to one, to reach the Final Four, while CSKA Moscow swept its best-of-five quarterfinal matchup with Partizan of Serbia. Nicholas had a team-high 19 points in the series-clincher for Panathinaikos.

Morris, who played four seasons at Maryland from 1997-98 to 2000-01, is averaging 7.4 points and 5.2 rebounds per game in Euroleague play for CSKA Moscow, the defending Euroleague champion. Morris, who played two seasons for the Houston Rockets in the NBA, played 22 games for the Orlando Magic in 2005-06.

His European career has included stops in Greece and Israel, with 2008-09 being his first season with the Russian squad.

Nicholas is also in his first season with his new team in Athens. He has averaged 8.8 points in 20 Euroleague games and leads the team with 41 3-pointers. He has scored in double figures in seven of his last eight games in the tournament, including four straight.

Since playing for Maryland from 1999-2000 through 2002-03, he has played for six teams in Europe. He led the Italian League in scoring with 27.1 ppg for Fabriano in 2003-04 and led the league again at 22.8 ppg for Livorno the next season.

Nicholas has won titles with Benetton Treviso in 2005-06, with Efes Pilsen Istanbul (2007 Turkish National Cup) and the Green National Cup this season with Panathinaikos.

Jasikevicius has averaged 9.2 points in 20 Euroleague games this year for Panathinaikos, scoring in double figures in three of the four games in the quarterfinal series with Montepaschi Siena. He played for Maryland from 1994-95 to 1997-98 and has appeared in a number of games with the Lithuanian National Team.

He played in the NBA in two seasons, appearing with Indiana in 2005-06 and with the Pacers and Golden State Warriors the next year. He signed with Panathinaikos prior to the 2007-08 season.

More information about the tournament is available at Euroleague.net.