For at least one night, the Terrapins were chameleons.
Maryland?s players took the Comcast Center court on Tuesday night in yellow uniforms withred numbers and black trim, then proceeded to use the new look to a spark a 73-48 victory over Holy Cross.
Maryland (10-6) hadn?t worn the jerseys since the 1987-88 season. After Saturday?s win at Charlotte, senior James Gist suggested to Coach Gary Williams the team wear its bright-colored alternate uniforms for its final non-conference game.
“I don?t want to say it was a reward,” Gist said. “But after the Charlotte game, we got off the plane and got on the bus back to Comcast, and I asked Coach, ?What do you think about wearing the yellow jerseys for the Holy Cross game?? He was like, ?Well, it might be a good idea, but if we lose, people will blame it on the gold jerseys.?”
Gist pointed to some unfortunate luck with “new stuff” during his four years in College Park, including losing to Miami in the ACC Tournament last spring while the Terrapins sported red shoes. Maryland lost to Boston College during Gist?s freshman year wearing black jerseys.
The university?s official colors are red, black, white and gold, but the team?s uniforms aren?t as much gold as mustard yellow.
But really, it didn?t matter what color jerseys the Terrapins (10-6, 0-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) wore against the Crusaders (9-4). Maryland used a 20-0 run midway though the first half to take control of a game in which it led by as many as 27 points en route to its fourth straight victory.
But don?t expect the Terrapins to wear the uniforms every game, including when they resume conference play at Virginia Tech (9-6, 0-1) on Saturday afternoon at 2.
“I thought they looked good,” Williams said. “We were looking for a way to wear them this year. The players like the yellow uniform. It?s a good-looking uniform, I think.”
Senior center Bambale Osby used the words “sweet” and “cool” to describe the uniforms, which replaced the black uniforms as Maryland?s alternate jerseys.
The Maryland football team wears black jerseys for key conference or prime-time games, and the basketball team hopes it will add a uniform to its wardrobe.
“We want the black,” Osby said with a grin. “But I think we can only have three uniforms on the year ? NCAA rules. I wish we had those blacks, man, those would be bad.”
Maryland at Virginia Tech
» Tipoff: Saturday, 2 p.m.
» Where: Cassell Coliseum, Blacksburg, Va.
» TV: WNUV
» Radio: 105.7 FM, 1300 AM
