Earlier today, Dino Gregory, who is well-known to be a great friend of Cliff Tucker’s, tweeted that Tucker was “officially a UTEP Miner.” About a half hour later, Tucker, the former Terps basketball player, confirmed it on his personal Facebook account
Here is what Tucker wrote in his post [everything sic]-
Thank GOD and Coach Price for another opportunity.Its official ima be a UTEP MINER!!!!!!TIME TO WORK!!!
If you’ve been following Tucker since his final season in a Maryland basketball uniform ended, the former forward for Gary Williams was trying to land a spot on the Terps’ football squad this fall. After a scholarship was not available, Tucker went looking for another opportunity and it looks like he found one with the Miners.
Tucker averaged 6.0 points per game in his 131-game basketball career at College Park, averaging 9.6 PPG his senior season. His career highlight in the red and gold was this shot, which defeated Georgia Tech in February 2010:
Maryland Guards, especially seniors Cliff Tucker and Adrian Bowie, had their way with Virginia last night beating them 66 – 44. The young Terps guards, Howard and Stoglin, also contributed well in this decisive win. This was an overall impressive performance by the Terps in evening their ACC record to 3 – 3.
Bowie had a season high 22 points, 4 steals and Tucker chipped in with 13 points, 3 boards. Bowie was one fire in the second half seemingly making everything he put up there. He was making three’s, lay-ups off of steals and with a few jumpers thrown in there, it was a one man scoring show in the second half. Most folks thought this would be the norm for Bowie coming into his senior season, but it hasn’t completely held true so far where he’s had to fight for the starting job with freshmen Pe’Shon Howard and Terrell Stoglin. Howard and Stoglin continued to impress as well with 9pts/4assts and 7pts/3assts respectively.
Maryland defense was at its best last night misdirecting shots and holding the ‘Hoos to 33 percent shooting. The Terps added 46 percent shooting from threes which is out of the norm, but there is potential from these guards as seen last night. There’s no way they can replace the hot hands of Vasquez and Hayes, but they can hold their own. A key note from last night though was the end of Jordan Williams’ double-double streak. Jordan ended the night on a dismal 2 – 5 shooting amounting to 4 points and 6 boards. That’s certainly not going to help this young team finish the season strong without contributions from him. It was clear though the Cav’s had a game plan around stopping Williams down low.
A few final thoughts from last night. One, The Terps need to get to the line more. Eight attempts is not enough and definitely not enough when they average around 63 percent. Two, Jordan Williams needs to get other guys involved when teams target him. He’s a known presence around the league and teams are going to give a full scouting report on just him so he needs to find other ways to score and be more involved with the offense when he’s bottled up. Finally, the Terps have to out-rebound other teams. They held a 27 – 26 advantage last night, but they need to widen that gap to a plus 10. Keep other teams off the boards and it will kill any rally the opponents have. Next up for the Terps, Georgia Tech Sunday the 30th. Go Terps!
Maryland plays a renewed Clemson team, now headed by Brad Brownell of Wright State. Clemson and Maryland have had their battles over the past ten years with the Terps holding a slight 9 – 7 advantage. Clemson and Oliver Purnell have always been that team that has given Gary fits. Hope fully Maryland can avoid a three game losing streak and pull out a quality conference win today.
After last game, look to see Gary shuffle the starting lineup again as the Tucker and Howard starting guards didn’t quite cut it. Maryland looked flat-footed, their shots were flat and they allowed a Tech team to run all over them. I would expect Gary to go back to the Stoglin and Bowie in the starting five. READ MORE >>>
The top ranked Duke Blue Devils (15-0, 2-0 ACC) had to fight to put away Maryland and get the victory 71-64 at home. They were paced by their All-American candidate, Kyle Singler, with 25 points and 10 rebounds. He hit a crucial three with 52.7 seconds left to ice the game for the Blue Devils and give them a 70-62 lead. Earlier in the game with 2:30 left to play Jordan Williams got a bucket and got fouled. He missed the free throw but got the offensive rebound and missed a close in bank shot that kept the lead 65-60 Duke. READ MORE >>>
After a lackluster effort against the Temple Owls, Maryland was able to bounce back in a strong way and defeat North Carolina-Greensboro 99-56 in a tune up before their ACC opener against Boston College this weekend. With the win at Comcast Center, it was their 15th straight in the building. Jordan Williams had 23 points and 13 boards and Terrell Stoglin poured in 18 to help lead the Terps. For Williams, it was his fourth straight double-double and his eighth of the season. The Spartans did not have an answer for him and Maryland took advantage throughout. Adrian Bowie and Cliff Tucker, the Terps seniors, bounced back after having a rough stretch of games. Tucker finished with 13 points but the thing that stood out was that he took it strong to the paint and it helped to set up his outside shot. As for Bowie, he added 16 points and had the play of the night in my opinion with a block from behind on a break with 15:35 left in the game. The play was a microcosm of the team in terms of their effort, focus and energy that they played with throughout the night. READ MORE >>>
The #4 Pitt Panthers won in the first semifinal of the 2K Sports Classic Benefitting Coaches vs. Cancer over the Terps 79-70. The Terps were undone by atrocious free throw shooting and got outrebounded 43-25. Coming into the game, Pitt had a distinct “home court” familiarity as they were 24-11 since 2000 at Madison Square Garden. It was a great early season matchup for the Terps to measure where they are and to play a physical game. Make no mistake that both teams got after it and were very physical, and the referees did a good job regulating it although the foul situation caused problems for both sides. READ MORE >>>
Maryland finally got a strong start at the beginning of a game and were able to defeat the Maine Black Bears in the final preliminary game of the 2K Sports Classic Coaches vs. Cancer, 89-59 on Sunday afternoon. Even though Maryland was playing their third game in seven days, Maryland was able to get a halftime lead of 52-29.
After both teams began the game with two straight turnovers, Cliff Tucker nailed a 3-pointer, Jordan Williams dunked it and Tucker again connected from deep for an 8-0 lead with 17:30 on the clock. The Bears were able to trim the lead to two points until freshmen Pe’Shon Howard and Terrence Stoglin were able to trigger another run with an 11-3 run. A few minutes later Tucker became a one man wrecking crew with a dunk and another trey to ignite another 13-0 run and push the lead to 45-24. READ MORE >>>
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