Coach Mark Turgeon thanks the students after Maryland’s 80-56 win over Mount St. Mary’s at Xfinity Center on Nov. 13, 2015.

Kevin Anderson got his wish.

In the wake of revenue shortfalls forcing the University of Maryland to cut several varsity teams in July 2012, the athletic director sought to resurrect the Terrapins men’s basketball team’s historic rivalry with Georgetown. 

Nothing sells tickets quite like rivalry games. And every season from 1946-47 to 1975-76, the local programs faced off in heated battle after heated battle.

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So when the Hoyas refused to reverse their stance of not scheduling the Terps during the regular season, Anderson took a controversial position: He refused to schedule nonrevenue contests between the two programs until Georgetown agreed to play in men’s basketball. 

“I just find it unusual that you would threaten to stop the other sports from this relationship that he considers to be so significant for one sport. If it’s significant for one sport, certainly it’s significant for those nonrevenue sports too, it would appear to me,” former Georgetown coach John Thompson Jr. said, according to The Washington Post.

Tuesday, the national college basketball world will descend on College Park for the Terps and Hoyas’ first scheduled regular-season bout since 1993. ESPN2 will be there. So will alumnus Scott Van Pelt with the SportsCenter crew. Since leaving the ACC two summers ago, the Terps have been searching for a new rival, and thanks to Anderson’s ploy, they might have found one in the form of an old foe.

Coach Mark Turgeon downplayed the game’s long-term significance Monday, noting that the programs’ contract is only a home-and-home this year and next year. 

“We’ll make the most of it and see what happens from there,” Turgeon said. 

But if Tuesday’s contest matches the excitement that has surrounded the buildup, fans will be clamoring for the schools, separated by less than 20 miles, to meet on the hardwood more often. Students that didn’t land a ticket have been on a frantic search for spare tickets for the past two weeks. Turgeon even said the university probably could’ve sold 50,000 to 60,000 tickets if Xfinity Center could accommodate that many people.

That’s an encouraging sign for a school that sells itself on its athletics, especially considering the stinker of a 2015 campaign the football team has put together.

But in order for this to turn into an actual rivalry, there needs to be tension between the players. Forward Jake Layman, the team’s senior leader, said he understands why the fans are so enthused, but it’s “just another game” for the Terps.

There was no shortage of bad blood decades ago. On Dec. 4, 1979, coaches Lefty Driesell and Thompson got in a shouting match in front of the scorer’s table during the first half. They played again in that season’s NCAA tournament (Georgetown won, 74-68) but then didn’t meet again until 1993.

The 1993 contest, played on a neutral court at USAir Arena in Landover, ended when Terps guard Duane Simpkins scored the game-winning layup in the game’s waning moments to push the unranked Terps over then-No. 15 Georgetown.

“So much for the city rivalry,” Thompson said after the game to The Diamondback. “We’ll see [about next year]. I made a decision this year, and I’ll make another decision next year.”

The programs have played twice since then — in the 2001 NCAA tournament and the 2008 Old Spice Classic — but haven’t made a conscious effort to play each other until now. It took a tactical move from Anderson to make that happen.

Georgetown’s stunning 82-80 double-overtime loss to Radford on Saturday might’ve taken away from the hype some, but not enough to quell Terps fans’ enthusiasm.

Don’t expect to see a screaming match between Turgeon and John Thompson III. The coaches are on good terms, and Turgeon said the game probably won’t have any impact on recruiting. But as his press conference neared a close, Turgeon let his guard down for a moment.

“Being a local team, we want to win this one badly,” Turgeon said.