Junior forward Nik Caner-Medley and the Terps are looking for their first three-game win streak since Jan. 4 tomorrow night at N.C. State.
With consecutive wins, the Terrapin men’s basketball team has — for the time being — left behind what was a logjam in the middle of the conference standings as well as distanced memories of its ill-fated two-game road trip through Clemson and Miami.
The No. 22-ranked Terps (15-7, 6-5 ACC) are tied for fourth in the league standings with the Hurricanes, and with two big wins over Duke this season, have a strong resumé to tout come selection Sunday.
“We’re definitely going to get respect throughout the league and throughout college basketball just from this win,” junior point guard John Gilchrist said Saturday night after helping the Terps past Duke. “I’m glad that we’re peaking at the right time.”
Terp coach Gary Williams said last week the ACC deserves to send seven teams to the NCAA tournament. Widely regarded as the nation’s top conference when six of its teams opened the season in the rankings, the ACC has four other teams ranked this week. It remains the top-rated conference in the Ratings Percentage Index with seven teams in the RPI top 50.
“They’re talking us down now. We lose in conference and that means we’re not that good,” Williams said. “But yet the ACC destroyed the competition before we started playing conference games — 7-2 in the Big Ten/ACC matchup. Should the Big Ten get as many teams as we do?”
The Terps’ work isn’t finished yet, though. No team earned an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament last season with fewer than 17 wins (Alabama). North Carolina was the last team invited from the ACC with an 18-10 record.
“This wasn’t the national championship. If it was, we can celebrate and have a great time. But now’s not a time to celebrate,” junior forward Nik Caner-Medley said Saturday night. “You have to build off this and continue to play well.”
The Terps have been anything but consistent this season. They haven’t won more than two games in a row since a Jan. 4 defeat of Mount St. Mary’s gave the team three straight victories. After defeating Duke on the road last month and following up with a win over Georgia Tech, the Terps lost to last-place Clemson and a slumping Miami team.
“We don’t have that stern foot up our butt sometimes,” Gilchrist said, attributing the team’s inconsistency to its lack of on-court senior leadership. “The best teacher is losing sometimes. It makes you really focus and zoom in on what you need to do … We’re just going to continue to get better each and every day. Once it reaches tournament time, we’re all going to be clicking on all cylinders. That’s what happened last year.”
