TODAY'S GAMES

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Saturday, February 9, 2008; Page E10

N.C. STATE (15-7, 4-4 ACC) AT MARYLAND (15-8, 5-3)

8 p.m., WDCA (Channel 20),

WNUV (Channel 54)

SHELL GAMES: Don't look now, but the Terrapins are looking like a tournament team -- and not the NIT. Maryland has won nine of its past 11 and is tied with Clemson for third in the ACC. Oddly, the Terrapins could use a quality win at home, where they've lost four times this season. (Even more oddly, only one of their losses this season was a true road game; the others were at neutral sites.) Maryland swept N.C. State last season after losing its previous three to the Wolfpack.

BOOM HE GOES: After having a combined five points and four rebounds in consecutive losses to Ohio and American -- unquestionably the season's nadir for the team -- senior forward Bambale Osby has averaged 12.8 points and 7.5 rebounds in the past 11 games. Even more remarkably, Osby, a career 63 percent free throw shooter, has made 16 of 19 free throws in his past three games combined.

AILING PACK: N.C. State, thought by some in the preseason to be the ACC's third-best team after North Carolina and Duke, has been hampered by injuries all season. Sophomore Brandon Costner this week became the fourth Wolfpack player to miss a game because of an injury. Costner suffered a rib injury in practice the day before Tuesday's victory over Virginia Tech, but X-rays were negative and he is listed as day-to-day entering today. The Wolfpack also is 2-5 on the road this season.

-- From Staff Reports

VIRGINIA (11-10, 1-7 ACC) AT WAKE FOREST (13-8, 3-5)

3:30 p.m., WJLA (Channel 7), WMAR (Channel 2)

SO LOW: The Cavaliers hit a low point Thursday night in their 82-51 loss to Clemson, which gave Virginia its worst ACC start since 1985. After losing five straight games for the first time since Coach Dave Leitao arrived, the Cavaliers' morale sunk lower than it has all season. "For the first time with all that's been going on in the last couple weeks, [we] played without a lot of confidence," Leitao said. "I've got to be able to go back to the gym and correct that. It wasn't something that I expected to happen. I don't think it was something that anyone in our locker room expected to happen."

-- Adam Kilgore