For the first time since Greivis Vasquez was running the offense and Gary Williams was patrolling the sidelines, the Terrapins men’s basketball earned a spot in the national rankings Monday.
The Terps (7-0) came in ranked No. 21 in the AP poll and No. 22 in the USA Today coaches poll after winning four games last week, including an upset of then-No. 13 Iowa State in the College Basketball Experience Hall of Fame Classic title game. The Terps haven’t been ranked since the 2009-10 season, Vasquez’s senior year. That season ended with the Terps’ most recent trip to the NCAA tournament.
When the Terps host No. 7 Virginia on Wednesday at the Xfinity Center it’ll be the first matchup between ranked teams in College Park since the Terps upset Duke in March 2010 to clinch a share of the ACC regular-season title.
TRIMBLE WINS TWO WEEKLY HONORS
Terps point guard Melo Trimble was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week and the conference’s co-Player of the Week after averaging 21.3 points per game in four wins over the past seven days. Penn State guard D.J. Newbill shared the player of the week honor with Trimble.
Trimble scored a career-high 31 points, which came up two shy of the program’s freshman record, last Monday to lead the Terps by Arizona State. He was named the CBE Classic MVP the next day after the team topped the Cyclones to win the tournament championship.
Friday, as guard Dez Wells missed his first game after a wrist surgery that will keep him out a month, Trimble hit eight straight free throws down the stretch to push the Terps past Monmouth, 61-56. Trimble scored 24 in the win.
The Upper Marlboro native capped the week with a 19-point performance in a win over VMI on Sunday. Trimble’s the first Big Ten freshman to win player of the week since Ohio State forward Jared Sullinger took home the honor in 2011.
“He’s just good,” coach Mark Turgeon said Sunday. “He just continues to figure out how to do it for us.”
SMOTRYCZ STATUS UNCERTAIN
Forward Evan Smotrycz, who missed the first five games of the year while recovering from a broken bone in his foot, “tweaked himself” in the win over VMI on Sunday, according to Turgeon.
The senior made his season debut against Monmouth on Friday and scored four points and grabbed a team-high six rebounds in the win. But Sunday, he only played eight minutes before suffer a setback and returning to the bench.
Smotrycz’s status for Wednesday’s contest with the Cavaliers is uncertain.
“He was moving pretty good [after the game], so we’ll see,” Turgeon said. “We’ve played basically seven games without him, so we’ll figure out how to play without him if he’s not healthy.”
Smotrycz averaged 11 points and six rebounds per game last year as a starter.