Maryland Record Breakers: Greivis Vasquez

Thumb through the Maryland men’s basketball record book and you’ll find it littered with Greivis Vasquez’ name. The flashy Venezuelan was heralded for his ability to do it all and it is evident in the vast array of statistical categories he pops up in.

But most of all, his incredible versatility is bolstered by an impressive collection of stats that still stands to this day: Vasquez remains the only player in ACC Men’s Basketball history to record 2,000 points, 600 rebounds and 700 assists.

Think of all the tremendous ACC players in the conference’s history and let that sink in. Vasquez stands alone.

“My work ethic was everything,” said Vasquez on the Hear The Turtle podcast. “What defined me was my will to get better and my will to prepare. I had tunnel vision. I knew I’d have to earn every minute I played.”

(Editor’s note: do yourself a favor and listen to the entire podcast with Vasquez. His passion for Maryland is unmatched.)

Hear The Turtle Podcast with Greivis Vasquez

The guys at Hear The Turtle sat down with the General himself, Greivis Vasquez, to talk about his time as a Terp and his unending passion for the University of Maryland. (Editor’s note: do yourself a favor and listen to the entire podcast with Vasquez. His passion for Maryland is unmatched.)

Specifically in the Maryland record books, Vasquez’ stature is pretty remarkable. He finished his career ranked second all-time in points (2171) and second in assists (972) behind all-time greats, Juan Dixon and Steve Blake, respectively.

To this day, Vasquez holds three Maryland records: career minutes (4568), double-figure games (112) and single-game assists (15, tied with Terrell Stokes). He also took more career field goals (1769) and 3-pt field goals (699) than any Terrapin in history.

Talk about versatility.

Of all the records, Vasquez particularly emphasized the career minutes record due as special to his love of both Maryland and head coach Gary Williams.

“It didn’t matter if I was hurt or not hurt, I was going to be there for Coach,” said Vasquez, who played in all 136 games of his collegiate career. “Coach was counting on me. I earned the keys and he gave them to me.”

Vasquez had trouble recalling a particular game he came close to missing due to injury or any other reason. 

“I was out to make a point. Early on, so many people knew nothing about me,” Vasquez said. “You only get four years in college, so my mentality was ‘why waste time’ because performing in college was my best chance to make it to the NBA. I am not about excuses. I am about facts.”

In an interesting twist, Anthony Cowan Jr. had an outside chance to break Vasquez’ record this season, but had to settle for second on the career minutes list with 4395 after the postseason was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

"To this day, I am so happy that I went to the University of Maryland and I was able to represent the school,” Vasquez said. “I wanted to do my best every single minute that I played on the court."

Terrell Stokes’ mark of 15 assists in a single-game had stood since 1998 before Vasquez tied the record against NC State as a sophomore in 2008.

As Vasquez tells the story, he was challenged by Williams and assistant coach Rob Ehsan to pass the ball more and build more trust with his teammates. 

“I was upset and I was pissed. I was just trying to win,” Vasquez said. “So I said, I’m going to play the way they want me to play and I went out against NC State and sent a message to Gary basically saying ‘I’m not going to shoot.’”

Vasquez’ first half box score: 4 points. 8 assists.

“So heading into the second half Gary says, ‘I wanted you to pass the ball more, but I still want you to shoot!’” Vasquez said laughing. “I said ‘Oh now you want me to shoot!’ So I went and pressed more offensively but I was in such a great rhythm offensively that I kept passing. That night I ended up passing the crap out of the ball and finding everyone.”

The rest was history. Vasquez ended up finishing the game one rebound shy of a triple-double with 13 points, 9 rebounds and a career-best 15 assists. 

Of course, the Hall of Fame coach Williams had his reasons for the directive.

“We did tell him that he had to get more players involved at times but at the same time you didn’t want to take away his ability to win games for you,” Williams said. “I think it was misinterpreted a little but you never want Greivis to stop shooting. You want that combination of passing and shooting. We laugh about it now when I told Greivis had to get more players involved, but he knew the deal.”

Ultimately, Vasquez’ career was summed up by indelible moments of drama and passion. No game encapsulated those feelings more than his Senior Night game against No. 4 Duke in 2010 when he scored the game-winning bucket and was hoisted into the air by the storming students.

The victory propelled the Terps to a share of the ACC Regular Season Title with the Blue Devils.

“That was the game of my life,” Vasquez said. “That night was a dream for anyone planning a senior night. It was a special night for both me and Eric Hayes. It gave us the hope to believe that we were a championship-caliber team and of course we were the last team to beat Duke before they won the National Championship.”

Williams summed up the career of Vasquez best.

“You always have to watch it with a lot of great scorers - they don’t want to take that big shot sometimes,” he said. “Greivis always wanted the ball at the end of the game. He and Juan Dixon were very similar in that regard.”