Coach Mark Turgeon calls out plays from the sideline during the Terps’ 71-60 victory over Wake Forest on Feb. 18, 2014.
The Terrapins men’s basketball team hosts No. 5 Virginia on Sunday in its final regular-season ACC game after 61 years in the conference.
The game will be nationally televised on CBS, and the Terps have announced a sellout of Comcast Center for a contest with significant historical undertones. Here’s some storylines:
1) ACC FAREWELL
While the Terps, who move to the Big Ten this summer, practiced Saturday afternoon, t-shirts were laid out over seats in the student section at Comcast Center, and placards spelled out a red and white “61” to commemorate the Terps’ final ACC game. So coach Mark Turgeon isn’t concerned about his team struggling to grasp the importance of Sunday’s game.
“Practicing in this arena today with all this stuff in here lets our players know that it’s a pretty important game,” Turgeon said. “One, because we’re playing Virginia who’s a rival; and two, they’re fifth in the country and won our league; and three it’s our last regular season ACC game in 61 years.”
Forward John Auslander, the Terps’ lone senior, grew up watching the Terps compete in the ACC. Both his parents graduated from this university in 1986, and he remembers watching games at Cole Field House during his childhood.
“So many rivalries, so many big games we’ve played against Virginia and all the other teams in the ACC,” Auslander said. “For me to be honored on that special day, having grown up watching Maryland basketball in the ACC, it’s a special thing.”
The Terps have dealt with this storyline plenty. All season, media members have asked players and coaches about their final run through in the ACC.
So while it’d be hard to blame the Terps for growing a little annoyed at the constant questions, it’s also been easy for the team to understand the significance of Sunday’s game.
“The legacy of the ACC and Maryland together means everything,” guard Dez Wells said. “It means everything to us, to the fan base, to Maryland basketball, to Coach Turgeon to the team. It means everything.”
2) HONORING AUSLANDER
Auslander, the only Terp who will be honored in the Senior Day ceremonies before the game begins, has brought a unique dynamic to the Terps. A former walk-on, Auslander has played a combined 18 minutes over seven games this season yet his teammates often refer to him as a valued leader.
The Herndon, Va., native often stands on the bench during games barking instructions to the players on the floor and offers his advice when other interior players come off the court.
“John in his position for never playing has as much respect as any player I’ve ever been around in that position,” Turgeon said.
Wells said Auslander has earned that respect from being a “team-first guy” and striving to help his teammates despite his limited role.
“I kind of knew playing time probably wasn’t going to be the biggest thing for me,” Auslander said. “But I know that while I’m here I can help the guys on the court. I can teach the guys all the things they’ve been doing. If I see something or if they have a question they know they can come to me and I can help them out.”
Auslander dreams of becoming a coach and plans on applying to graduate school at this university and working as a grad assistant. He’s used his leadership role with Terps to develop coaching skills that he’ll hope to use in the future.
Still, Auslander knows that it’ll feel different wearing a suit and tie on the bench after years of lacing up his basketball shoes and sporting jerseys. Sunday, he gets one last regular season game in which he’ll be available to play.
“Coach always said it’s never the same when you stop playing and it goes by so fast,” Auslander said. “I feel like I blinked and this season was over. But I’m also going to have opportunities to move forward and start coaching which has been a dream of mine. So it’s bittersweet.”
3) ONE LAST CHANCE
Three times in the past month, the Terps has been in position to beat a top-10 team. And all three times — at Virginia and Duke and against Syracuse — they’ve come up short.
The Teps have an opportunity to avenge a 61-53 loss to the Cavaliers on Feb. 10, but the team also has perhaps its final chance to do what it hasn’t done all season: polish off a marquee victory.
“We’ve played with the best teams, we’ve been in all those games, competed,” Auslander said. “It’s been a couple plays here or there.”
The Terps’ three demoralizing losses to national title contenders have essentially left them out of contention for an NCAA tournament at-large berth, meaning a run to the ACC tournament championship next week is the team’s only hope of inclusion in the top postseason event.
So while Sunday’s game brings an end to a storied rivalry and the Terps’ long history in the ACC, it also is the Terps’ final chance to build momentum before staging a last-ditch effort at saving their season.
“In order to get on a roll,” forward Evan Smotrycz said, “we’ve got to win one.”
