Terps Face Wake at Noon Thursday

March 7, 2012

#8 Maryland (16-14, 6-9) vs. #9 Wake Forest (13-17, 4-12)
Thursday, March 8, 2012 | Noon | Atlanta, Ga. (Philips Arena)
ACC Network | Terrapin Sports Radio Network

Maryland opens play in the 2012 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament in a first-round matchup with Wake Forest. The Terrapins beat the Demon Deacons, 70-64, on Jan. 11 in the only regular-season meeting between the teams this year. Terrell Stoglin had 20 points, with James Padgett and Sean Mosley adding 15 each in the victory that marked the first league game of the year at Comcast Center.

Sophomore guard Terrell Stoglin earned second team All-ACC honors on Monday in balloting by the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association. Stoglin remains atop the list of scoring leaders in the league with a 21.2 points-per-game average. He had 25 points in the last game of the regular season on Sunday against Virginia, becoming only the third Terrapin in history to reach 1,000 career points in only his second season.

Nick Faust earned a spot on the 2012 ACC All-Freshman Team on Monday. Faust has averaged 13.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.4 steals in the seven games since he returned to the starting lineup after the season-ending injury to Pe'Shon Howard. It marked the third straight season the Terps have put a student-athlete on the league's All-Freshman Team (Jordan Williams in 2010, Stoglin in 2011). Faust has six double-figure games in the last seven.

The Terrapins are the eighth seed in the ACC Tournament for the sixth time. Maryland is 5-3 in matchups with Wake Forest, including five straight victories. The Terps lost their first three tournament meetings with the Demon Deacons (1954, 1961, 1963), but turned things around with a win in the 1973 semifinals. The other wins have come in 1984, 2001, 2004 and 2009.

Scouting the Demon Deacons

Wake Forest finished the regular season 13-17 overall with a 4-12 mark in the ACC, getting its four conference wins over Virginia Tech, Boston College and Georgia Tech at home and also defeating BC in Chestnut Hill.

The Demon Deacons possess two of the top-six scorers in the conference in guard C.J. Harris and forward Travis McKie... Harris is fourth in the league with 16.8 ppg and is also the team's top 3-point shooter, having connected on 48-of-111 attempts (.432) this season... McKie is sixth in the conference with 15.9 ppg and is averaging a team-high 6.9 rebounds per game.

Wake is the best free-throw shooting team in the league (.736), led by Harris (.856) and McKie (.730)... Sophomore guard Tony Chennault is third on the team in scoring (9.3 ppg) and has a team-high 85 assists... Fifth-year senior forward Nikita Mescheriakov is fourth on the team with 7.7 ppg.

Upcoming

The winner of the opening first-round game will face top-seeded North Carolina at noon in Friday's quarterfinals.

The Terrapins are in the top half of the bracket, meaning they would play in the 1 p.m. semifinal, with the championship game also scheduled for 1 p.m. on Sunday.

Follow the Entire Tournament

First-round coverage of all four games on Thursday will also be available on ESPNU nationally, with blackouts in the ACC geographic footprint.

Fans can also follow the tournament on Twitter: @ACCmbb, with hashtag #ACCTRNY

#8 Maryland (16-14, 6-9) vs. #9 Wake Forest (13-17, 4-12)
Thursday, March 8, 2012 | Noon | Atlanta, Ga. (Philips Arena)
ACC Network | Terrapin Sports Radio Network

Scouting the Demon Deacons

Upcoming

Follow the Entire Tournament

Players Mentioned

Pe'Shon Howard

Sean Mosley

Terrell Stoglin

Jordan Williams

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