Radio: Hawks Radio Network (Brendan Gulick) | Game Notes: Maryland

Four games into a seven-game road swing and one game removed from a loss to No. 1 Michigan State, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) will be back in their home state on Dec. 12. But they'll look across the court and see No. 6 Maryland.

The Hawks (1-7, 0-2 MEAC) will face off with the Terrapins (8-1) at 4 p.m. and the game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.

"There is no rest for the weary," head coach Bobby Collins said. "We are battle tested. We have been in hostile environments. We've been on the road quite a bit. It has been a very, very tough early season. It is a matter of us persevering and getting better as a team."

Collins' squad had a rough time of it in East Lansing, after staying within three points until the 13:12 mark of the first half. But the following 19-2 Spartans run was too much as they ran away with a 78-35 win.

Collins said they have put that game behind then declining to watch the film and turning their attention to Maryland.

It was Denzel Valentine who ran the show for Michigan State nearing a triple double with 10 points 11 rebounds six assists a block and two steals in 28 minutes.
Saturday's game will bring Preseason Big Ten Player of the Year Melo Trimble, the Terrapins point guard and catalyst.

"He is a very good player. We know that and he has some very good players around him," Collins said. "We just have to go in and do the things that we can do. We are definitely going to compete and I told our guys to play hard and I'll accept whatever happens after that. Fight compete and represent our university."

Trimble leads the Terps in points (15.6), minutes (31.7), free throw shooting (83 percent), assists (5.5) and steals (1.5). Robert Carter is leading the team in rebounding with 7.1 per game and is second with 13 points.

Baltimore native and senior shooting guard Devin Martin will be playing in front a friends and family and will look to improve on his 3-of-12 shooting performance at Michigan State, which included 1-of-7 from behind the arc. Sophomore Ryan Andino (Ft. Lauderdale, Florida) was just 1-of-6 from 3-point range as the team made just 5-of-25 (20 percent).

"Devin and Ryan our two wings both are banged up, so we are trying to get both those guys healthy and hopefully going into the conference we'll be a better team," Collins said.

Martin leads the team in scoring with 14.4 points per game, while Dominique Elliott (Savannah, Georgia) is second with 10.8 and leads the team in rebounding with six per game.

Junior JUCO transfer Thomas Rivera (Harlem, New York) has seen his minutes increase over the last two games as he has taken over the starting points guard role from freshman Ahmad Frost (Cincinnati, Ohio). Rivers was a combined 7-of-15 from the field with five rebounds, five assist a block and three steals over two games.

"We have high expectations of Thomas Rivera and we are asking him to step up and lead and compete harder than what he has," Collins said. "Missing those first two games of the season kind of set him back a little bit, but he is catching up now."

It is the team's seventh road game out of its first nine games of the season. The Hawks play 10 of their first 12 games on the road and 14 of their first 17.

"We hope that we can benefit from these games and besides the guarantee that we get from them today, we want to get better," he said. "We want to get better as a team and we want to build our team chemistry. We want to build our team comradery. Michigan is a very tough team to try and get that done against and Maryland is very tough time to try and get that done. I think they are playing at their best right now.

"We just have to keep working on the things we are working on and hopefully it will carry over to our conference."

Following the game at Maryland, UMES will travel to Old Dominion on December 18 at 8 p.m. and American University on Dec. 20 at 1 p.m.

All games can be heard locally on Fox Sports Radio 960 AM WTGM or on www.umeshawks.com. Brendan Gulick will have the call on the Hawks Sports Radio Network.