#3 Terps Travel to Cancun Challenge This Week!

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The No. 3 Maryland men’s basketball team is headed south of the border for the Cancun Challenge, beginning with a tilt with Illinois State Tuesday at 8:30 p.m.

WATCH: CBS Sports Network - Thad Anderson (Play-by-Play), Doug Gottlieb (Analyst)
LISTEN: Terrapin Sports Radio Network - Johnny Holliday (Play-By-Play), Chris Knoche (Analyst)
SOCIAL: Follow @TerrapinHoops on Twitter for in-game updates

Storylines
• Maryland defeated Arizona State and No. 13-ranked Iowa State to capture the 2014 CBE Hall of Fame Classic at the Sprint Center in Kansas City a year ago. Melo Trimble earned Most Valuable Player honors after averaging 21 points, three rebounds and two assists in the pair of wins. He scored a career-high 31 points in the Terps’ win over ASU. It was Maryland’s 30th regular season championship in school history and marked the second consecutive season under Terps head coach Mark Turgeon that Maryland won a tournament. In 2013, Maryland won the Paradise Jam with victories over Marist, Northern Iowa and Providence in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.

• Illinois State is 2-2 wiith wins over Morehead State and Houston Baptist. This is the first meeting between the two programs. The Redbirds were picked to finish fourth in the Missouri Valley Conference. DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell was tabbed to the All-MVC Preseason Team.

• Head coach Mark Turgeon is 23-6 in the month of November while at the helm of the Maryland basketball program. The Terps own a 13-game winning streak in the month of November, including a 7-0 run a year ago. Maryland has not dropped a game in November since Nov. 17, 2013 against Oregon State (90-83).

Jake Layman became the 40th member of Maryland’s 500-rebound club after notching his first double-double of the year against Rider Friday. The senior, who cracked the top 50 all-time scoring list this season (1,062), needs four points to move past Terrell Stoglin at No. 48 on the list.

• Maryland has had an early-season tendency of key players boasting large impacts in the second half. As the Terps faced its first halftime deficit of the season vs. Rider Nov. 20, freshman Diamond Stone netted 10 of his career-high 12 points in the second stanza to lift the Terps to the win. Against Georgetown Nov. 17, Melo Trimble scored 17 of his 24 points in the second half. Jake Layman scored all 15 of his points in the second half on 4-for-5 shooting from the floor vs. the Hoyas.

Terps use late surge to down Rider
• Freshman Diamond Stone fueled a second-half surge that brought No. 3 Maryland back from a 14-point deficit, and Jake Layman had 11 points and 11 rebounds in a 65-58 victory over Rider on Friday night.

• The Terrapins (3-0) trailed 43-29 with 15:56 remaining and grabbed the lead for the first time when Rasheed Sulaimon scored on a runner in the lane with 5:19 left to make it 52-50.

• It was 61-58 before Rider’s Kahlil Thomas misfired on the front end of a 1-and-1. Sulaimon missed two foul shots on the other end, but Layman grabbed the rebound and clinched it with a pair of free throws. Robert Carter Jr. scored 13 for Maryland and Stone added 12, including eight in a 15-3 spurt that got the Terps to 46-44. After starting the first two games, the 6-foot-11 Stone came off the bench to go 6-of-7 from the floor with five rebounds.

Terps Win 2014 CBE Classic
• Maryland defeated Arizona State and No. 13-ranked Iowa State to capture the 2014 CBE Hall of Fame Classic at the Sprint Center in Kansas City a year ago.

Melo Trimble earned Most Valuable Player honors after averaging 21 points, three rebounds and two assists in the pair of wins. He scored a career-high 31 points in the Terps’ win over ASU.

• It was Maryland’s 30th regular season championship in school history and marked the second consecutive season under Terps head coach Mark Turgeon that Maryland won a tournament. In 2013, Maryland won the Paradise Jam with victories over Marist, Northern Iowa and Providence in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.
Scouting illinois state
• Illinois State is 2-2 with wins over Morehead State and Houston Baptist to begin the 2015-16 slate.

• DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell is one of three starters and six letterwinners returning for ISU, which advanced to the MVC Tournament championship game following a third-place finish in the league standings a year ago. Akoon-Purcell leads the Redbirds, averaging 17 points per game. Deontae Hawkins is posting a team -high 5.0 rebounds per outing.

• This is the first meeting between the two programs.

#Rivarly-Renewed - Terps Down Georgetown
Rasheed Sulaimon hit a 3-pointer with 1:18 left to break a tie, and No. 3 Maryland got 24 points from Melo Trimble in a rousing 75-71 victory over neighborhood rival Georgetown on Tuesday night.

• Maryland was stretched to the finish against Georgetown, which led by seven in the second half before wilting.

• With the score tied at 68, Sulaimon made his only basket of the second half to put the Terrapins ahead to stay. Two free throws by Trimble upped the margin to five points with 12 seconds left, assuring Maryland a victory.

Jake Layman scored 15 for the Terrapins and Robert Carter added 12.

Layman, Trimble Named to Wooden List
• Maryland men’s basketball forward Jake Layman and guard Melo Trimble have been named to the John R. Wooden Award presented by Wendy’s Preseason Top-50 as announced Tuesday on ESPN’s SportsCenter and on ESPN.com.

• Chosen by a preseason poll of national college basketball experts, the list is comprised of 50 student-athletes who are the early front-runners for college basketball’s most prestigious individual honor. Maryland is one of 12 schools in the country with multiple players in the top-50.

• The Top 50 nominees represent 10 conferences. The Big Ten leads all conferences with 10 selections, followed by the ACC (9), and the Big 12 (7), SEC (7), Pac-12 (5), Big East (4) and WCC (3).

Layman’s Terms
• Senior forward Jake Layman is the lone four-year Terrapin on head coach Mark Turgeon’s roster in 2015-16.

• Layman appeared in all 35 games last season, averaging 12.5 points and a team-high 5.8 rebounds per game. He scored his 1,000th point at Maryland against Indiana in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament. He’s averaging 15.5 points and five rebounds per game this season.

• The Wrentham, Mass., native became the 40th member of Maryland’s 500-rebound club against Rider on Nov. 20. He now ranks 49th all-time in Maryland career points with 1,062, four-points shy of Terrell Stoglin (1,066).