COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The Maryland men's basketball team plays its final exhibition game Saturday when it welcomes Bowie State to XFINITY Center for a noon tilt.

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• The Maryland men's basketball program will have its final exhibition tune-up Saturday when it welcomes Bowie State for a noon tilt at XFINITY Center.

• Maryland and Bowie State have never met in regular-season play.

• Maryland, which finished 17-15 last season, boasts a balanced team featuring a mix of veteran leadership and key newcomers. Among the leaders is 2013 ACC-All Conferece and USBWA All-District III selection Dez Wells.

• A total of five players made their Terrapin debuts last Saturday against San Francisco State, including freshmen Melo Trimble, Dion Wiley, Jared Nickens and Michal Cekovsky. Redshirt senior transfer Richaud Pack also played his first game at Maryland. Newcomers combined for 63 points in the first exhibition.

• Bowie State went 14-14 with an 8-8 CIAA record a year ago. The Bulldogs won the CIAA's Northern Division crown and are predicted to do so again in 2014-15.

• The Terps boast 12 home games at XFINITY Center, including two exhibitions, before kicking off the Big Ten slate in late December.

Freshmen Shine in Terps' Exhibition Win Saturday

• Freshman guard Melo Trimble scored 19 points, Dion Wiley had 16, and the Maryland men's basketball team surged in an impressive second half to defeat San Francisco State, 86-52, in its exhibition opener last Saturday afternoon.

• Freshman Jared Nickens, who ended his Maryland debut with 13 points, led the team in the second half with 10 points, three rebounds and a steal while shooting 3-for-5 from three-point range.

• The Terps shot 54.5 percent (24-for-44) from the field for the game while posting a 51.9 percent clip (14-for-27) from long range. Maryland also received 33 points off the bench as every active player saw time on the floor.

Season Preview: Terps Think B1G in 2014-15

• With a top-10 recruiting class and his most experienced team in four years as head coach at Maryland, Mark Turgeon has the Terrapins poised for its inaugural season in the Big Ten Conference.

• Maryland, which finished 17-15 last season, boasts a balanced team featuring a mix of veteran leadership and key newcomers. Among the leaders is 2013 ACC-All Conferece and USBWA All-District III selection Dez Wells, who changed his number to 44 to honor a deceased former teammate for his senior season. Wells is joined by seniors Evan Smotrycz and Jon Graham and sophomore Damonte Dodd in the frontcourt, in addition to junior Jake Layman on the wing.

• Turgeon also hauled in the ninth-best recruiting class in the nation according to Scout.com, showcasing McDonald's All-American point guard Melo Trimble (Upper Marlboro, Md.), shooting guard Dion Wiley (Oxon Hill, Md.), guard Jared Nickens (Monmouth Junction, N.J.) and forward Michal Cekovsky (Slovakia, Europe).

Scouting bowie state

• Bowie State went 14-14 with an 8-8 CIAA record a year ago. The Bulldogs won the CIAA's Northern Division crown.

• Bowie State was picked to finish first in the CIAA Northern Division as voted by the CIAA Men's Basketball Coaches Association. Darrell Brooks is in his sixth season at the helm of the Bulldog program.

• Junior Andre Jackson represents Bowie State on the league's preseason team. Jackson played in 25 games last season and ranked fifth on the team in scoring (7.4 ppg) and third in rebounds (3.8 rpg).

trimble named to cousy watch list

• Maryland freshman guard Melo Trimble has been named to the watch list of candidates for the 2015 Bob Cousy Collegiate Point Guard of the Year Award, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced Tuesday.

• Trimble, a 6-3 guard from Upper Marlboro, Md., was a McDonald's All-American and the No. 1-ranked player in the state of Maryland before arriving to College Park. Trimble averaged 23.1 points at Bishop O'Connell High School as a senior and was tagged the 2014 Washington Post All-Metro Player of the Year.

Meet the Newcomers

• Head coach Mark Turgeon and the Terps welcomed the ninth-ranked recruiting class in the nation according to ESPN.com and Scout.com for the 2014-15 season. The class includes McDonald's All-American Melo Trimble, Dion Wiley, Jared Nickens and Michal Cekovsky.

• In addition, Maryland added transfers Richaud Pack (NC A&T) and Robert Carter, Jr. (Georgia Tech). Carter will miss the 2014-15 campaign due to NCAA transfer rules.

Wells Returns for Senior Campaign

• Senior Dez Wells - a Third Team All-ACC pick by both the media and coaches' polls last season - returns to lead the Terps in 2014-15.

• Wells, who also earned All-District III honors from the USBWA, did it all for the Terps in 2013-14, leading the team with 14.9 points per game on 48 percent shooting. He scored double-figures in all but four games, including 15 of his last 16 outings. Wells was also first on the team in total assists (69), blocks (27) and free throw percentage (.817).

• Wells earned First Team All-ACC Tournament honors in 2013 after averaging 22.0 points and 6.7 rebounds in three games. He poured in 30 points on 9-of-13 shooting to down No. 2 Duke in the ACC Quarterfinals.

Get to Know the Big Ten Conference

• Big Ten has had seven First Team AP All-Americans over the last five years…same as ACC, SEC, Big 12 and Pac 12 COMBINED
• Big Ten has had two of the past five Wooden Award winners
  
  
• Big Ten has more NCAA Tournament appearances over last five years than any conference (31)
• Big Ten has more Sweet 16 appearances over last five years than any conference (16)…SEC is second closest with 10
• Big Ten leads all conferences with nearly 5 million alumni and more than 460,000 students.

Wiley Excels on Goodwill Tour

• Freshman Dion Wiley performed as one of the top players as he traveled across Europe with Global Sports Academy's 2014 Men's Basketball Goodwill tour this past summer.

• Wiley has led his squad is scoring in each of the first four contests against various European opposition. Wiley was the only Terrapin on a team that also included players from NC State and Mount St. Mary's.

Graham, Smotrycz Have B1G Perspective

• Maryland seniors Jon Graham and Evan Smotrycz are quite familiar with the Terrapins' new conference as both competed at Big Ten programs before landing at the University of Maryalnd.

• Graham spent the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons at Penn State where he appeared in 59 games, making 10 starts. He served a redshirt season in 2010-11.

• Smotrycz spent his first two seasons at the University of Michigan. As a rookie, he won Michigan's Sxith Man Award, playing in all 35 games for the Wolverines. He helped Michigan to a share of its first Big Ten regular-season title since 1985-86 as a sophomore.

Cecko Gives Terps Added Paint Presence

• A late addition for the Terps, Michal Cekovsky is poised to bring needed size to the Maryland roster in 2014-15.
• A native of Slovakia, Cekovsky (7-1, 235) spent the past season with Canarias Academy in Spain. He was rated on multiple national websites as a four-star recruit.

ESPN Names XFINITY Center Top 10 Court Design

• ESPN has named XFINITY Center as one of the top 10 court designs in college basketball. Maryland landed at No. 8 on the list.

• In total, three members of the Big Ten made the cut, including Indiana's Assembly Hall at No. 1 and Iowa's Carver-Hawkeye Arena at No. 10.

• According to the breakdown, posted on ESPN.com, XFINITY Center was lauded for its “clean design.”