March 4, 2012

ACC Official Release

ACC Tournament Central

ATLANTA - The University of Maryland men's basketball team will play Wake Forest in the opening game of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament on Thursday at noon in Atlanta's Philips Arena.

The Terrapins (16-13, 6-10) finished eighth in the league standings following Sunday's 75-72 overtime loss to Virginia at Comcast Center. The Demon Deacons (13-17, 4-12) earned the ninth seed based on tie-breaker procedures to solve the four-way tie for ninth place in the league standings following this weekend's action.

The game will be televised nationally on ESPNU and regionally on the ACC Network. Redio coverage will be on the Terrapin Sports Radio Network.

The winner of Thursday's noon first-round game advances to the noon quarterfinal on Friday against top-seeded North Carolina (27-4, 14-2), which won the regular-season title on Saturday with an 88-70 victory at Duke.

Maryland is 5-3 all-time in the first round of the ACC Tournament, winning last year's first-round game over NC State, 75-67, in Greensboro, N.C.. The Terrapins were the No.7 seed in last year's tournament.

Maryland is 5-3 all-time against Wake Forest in the ACC Tournament, but has won five straight tournament matchups against the Demon Deacons. The last time the Terps played Wake Forest in the tournament came in Atlanta's Georgia Dome when the Terps won 75-64 in in the 2009 quarterfinals.

The Terrapins beat the Demon Deacons 70-64 on Jan. 11 at Comcast Center in the teams' only regular-season matchup this year. That game started a stretch for Wake Forest that had the Deacs win three of their final dozen games.

Tickets for the Maryland allotment at the ACC Tournament are still available by calling the Terrapin Ticket Office at 1-800-IM-A-TERP.

- Terps -