The loud noise that sounds like a racing freight train you may be hearing is completely normal: It’s snoring. After all, every student at this university just had to take a nap after a tough and long finals week, basketball players included. But the gents of coach Mark Turgeon’s team don’t have days and days to sleep, catch up on the latest seasons of Homeland and Downton Abbey and eat their parents’ food. There are games to be played!

Here comes the next of the Nonconfriends: the Stony Brook Seawolves.

A LOOK BACK: It was the best of halves and the worst of halves at Comcast Center against Monmouth on Dec. 12.The best of halves was the second, in which the Terps outscored the Hawks 40-17 and played exactly as they should have.

The worst of halves, however, was the first, a half where sloppy play reigned and the Hawks kept it decently close.

But, as the coaching cliche goes, a win is a win, and this team has a lot of them. You would have to look to the national championship season of 2001-02 to find a winning streak as long as the current nine-game run.

COMING INTO COMCAST: Stony Brook has been to the NIT in two of the past three seasons, proving they aren’t a mid-major slouch under eighth-year coach Steve Pikiell. And, after elevating the team from basement-dweller status at the beginning of the 2000s, Pikiell has an NCAA tournament bid in mind.

So far, the Seawolves are off to a decent start. An 11-point loss at Connecticut isn’t awful, while a home loss to Sacred Heart isn’t great. But with an 8-2 record and three games left until America East conference play begins, Stony Brook will be looking for a big win to begin a push for the postseason

STRENGTHS: The Seawolves and the Terps will have an entertaining battle on the boards. The Terps rank third in the country in rebounds per game, while Stony Brook ranks 26th. Expect a lot of hard-hitting play under the rim and for the Seawolves not to be intimated after missed shots.

Freshman Jameel Warney has also impressed and will be a big defensive priority for the Terps. His 11.9 points per game, coupled with 7.9 rebounds, make him a threat on both ends of the court.

WEAKNESSES: In the Seawolves’ two losses this season, they held moderately sized leads in second halves (14 against Sacred Heart and 7 against UConn) that ended in disappointment and defeat. Add leads that almost vanished in another game against Sacred Heart and in an early contest with Marist, and you start to see a pattern. If Stony Brook finds itself up with the chance of an upset, will they be able to hold on and fight the pressure?

CAMPUS CONNECTION: Go down Route 1 a couple miles and you will find senior Seawolf Marcus Rouse’s alma mater, DeMatha. The guard led the nationally ranked Stags squad to Washington Catholic Athletic Conference championships in 2007 and 2009 before heading to Long Island.

FUN FACT: Many races across the country inspire images of great champions every year: The Penn Relays, the Daytona 500, your family’s three-legged relay.

But few races show the great prowess and determination of its winners like the Roth Pond Regatta at Stony Brook. This year, with a secondary concert by unknown performer Bruno Mars afterward, groups wandered back to the pond once again to race cardboard boats taped together without sinking. The first team across the pond wins, but really, if you built a cardboard boat, and it doesn’t sink in the first three seconds, aren’t you a winner too?

TCL (TERP CONFIDENCE LEVEL): Eight out of 10. Stony Brook could be one of the strongest Nonconfriends to come into Comcast Center, and the Terps will need to rid themselves of the problems from the Monmouth game. But the time off will take some spotlight off of the team and should provide the energy needed to beat the Seawolves.

NEXT NONCONFRIEND: This university isn’t in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, but it sure has felt like it this Nonconfriends season as the Terps will host their third opponent from the conference in Delaware State on Dec. 29. We will have all the ins and outs on the Hornets right before the new year. Until then, keep your friends close, your Nonconfriends closer and your holidays happy.

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