Terps Face Old ACC Foe Miami For Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off Championship

COLLEGE PARK, MD – After a blistering win over Saint Louis on Saturday, the Maryland men’s basketball team (4-0) takes on former ACC foe Miami (4-0) at Mohegan Sun Arena in the championship game of the 2022 Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off. The opening tip is slated for 1 p.m., and the game will be televised on ESPN. Fans can listen to the Maryland Sports Network (1300 AM – Baltimore, The TEAM 980 AM – Washington, D.C., One Maryland App) with Matt Noble and Chris Knoche calling the action.

The Terps are looking to win their 33rd championship in regular-season tournaments and the first since the 2019 Orlando Invitational title.

 

Maryland-Miami: The Series

No Sophomore Slump For Reese

• After a relatively quiet opening night with seven points and seven rebounds against Niagara, Julian Reese has shown fans he can be a dominant player for the Terps after tying his career-high with 19 points against both Western Carolina and Binghamton. Against the Catamounts, he also posted his first career double-double with a career-high 12 rebounds.
• Nationally, Reese ranks 16th nationally (4th in the Big Ten) with a 76.9 field goal percentage (18-of-23).
• Reese is the Terps second-leading scorer (12.3 ppg) and in rebounding (7.8 rpg).

Recapping the Saint Louis Win

• Maryland stayed perfect to start the Willard Era with its win over Saint Louis. The Terps once again used a big first half, jumping out to a 51-27 lead, to take control of the game. Donta Scott tied his career high with 25 points as one of five players in double figures for Maryland. Maryland had its best shooting performance of the young season, pouring in 13 three-pointers on 32 attempts. Don Carey canned four threes on 4-of-10 shooting from deep amd Ian Martinez set a new career-high with 14 on 6-of-8 shooting (2-of-4 from three). The 95 points allowed by Saint Louis were the most in the Travis Ford era and the second most since allowing 104 to UAB in 1992 (30 years ago).
• Through four games, Maryland is allowing an average of 23 points in the first half of games while giving up just 54.8 points total.
• The win over Saint Louis moved Maryland up 14 spots in the KenPom rankings. The Terps entered the weekend ranked No. 42 before jumping to No. 28 after the 28-point win. The Billikens entered the game ranked No. 32.
• Maryland started a season 4-0 for the 28th time in the program’s 104 years overall. The Terps have been 4-0 in eight of the last nine seasons only missing the mark last year.

Scott Nearing 1,000 Points; Eclipses 500 Boards

• Donta Scott went over the 500 rebound mark in the win over Western Carolina and now has 519 for his career. He enters the Miami game with 986 career points.
• Scott is looking to become the 17th Terp since 1995 to reach the 1,000-point, 500-rebound milestone. Darryl Morsell (1,090 points / 510 rebounds / 2018-21) and Anthony Cowan (1,881 points / 508 rebounds / 2017-20) are the most recent to do so.
• Scott was one of 20 players named to the Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Watch List as announced by the Basketball Hall of Fame in late October.
• This is Scott’s second year on the watch list after also garnering the honor last season. He joins Jalen Smith (2019-20) and Jake Layman (2014-15) as Terps to be recognized.
• Scott ranked as the No. 49 overall player nationally last season. He has played in 98 career games.

Fun News & Notes

• WILLARD FIRST MARYLAND COACH TO START 4-0 – Willard become the first head coach in the program’s history to post a 4-0 record during their first season at the helm dating back to H. Burton Shipley who was the first official head coach in 1923-24
• NOVEMBER REIGN – Maryland is 69-13 in November games dating back to 2010-11.
• Get Yourself a Four Pack of 20 Pieces – With the victory over Saint Louis, Maryland picked up four-consecutive 20+ point wins for the first time since 2009-10. In that season 13 years ago, the Terps also won the first four games of the season by a 20-point plus margin. The last time Maryland won five-straight by 20-or-more – the start of the 1998-99 season. The Terps opened that season with a 10-game win streak overall.
• DEFENSE GENERATES OFFENSE – Maryland is forcing 14.5 turnovers per game which has translated to 18.3 points off turnovers. Just under 23 percent of the Terps offense has been generated off turnovers.
• YOUNG THROWING A BLOCK PARTY – A point guard with a pair of blocks in a game is in general a rarity. To lead the team in blocked shots after two games is more so. For Jahmir Young, he is the first Terp guard since Sean Mosely in 2011-12 to block four shots in the team’s first two games. Current NBA guards Kevin Huerter (2016-17) and Aaron Wiggins (2019-20) are tied with Young as they also had four blocks in three games (Young did not block a shot against Binghamton).
• MAKING POSITIVE CONTRIBUTIONS – Hakim Hart leads the Terps with an outstanding +104 rating through four games. Donta Scott is +93, while Julian Reese is +77. The trio are the top players in terms of +/- early in the season. The trio along with fellow starters Jahmir Young and Don Carey are +42 as a line-up on the year

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