Bottom half notes

Should the Aggies advance, here are fun, informative facts on Maryland and Houston, who play at 7:40 on Friday.

Houston and NMSU are similar in that the Cougars are making their 19th appearance and also facing a tournament staple in Maryland. Although Houston's tournament drought went back to 1992 while NMSU has been here twice since 2007.


Houston
Possesses the nation's leading scorer in senior guard Aubrey Coleman at 25.6 per game. The 6-4, 200 pounder from Houston is also seventh in the country with 2.7 steals per game. He had a three-game stretch of 30 plus games this season. Guard Kelvin Lewis had 28 points and hit six 3s against UTEP in the C-USA championship game. Lewis was the C-USA tournament MVP.

Coaching
Tom Penders heas led four teams to the tournament and is 5-0 in Midwest Region first round games and is 6-1 in the first round when his team is seeded 10th or lower. He is tied with Maryland's Gary Williams for fifth on the active wins list with 648.


Maryland
In the tournament for the 14th time in the past 17 years. They have won nine of 11 entering the tournament. Guard Greivis Vasquez was named the ACC POY. The Terps are 5-3 as a No. 4 seed and 21-9 as one of the top four seeds. Vasquez was second in the ACC with 23.8 points per game, but he's also second in FT percentage, 3-point FG, he leads the ACC with 6.3 assists per game and he has led the Terps in rebounds seven times. The Terps led the league with 16.4 assists per game.

Coaching
Gary Williams is 441-237 at Maryland. He's 28-15 in the tournament and 24-12 at Maryland. He's second among active ACC coaches with 202 wins in the ACC.