You've heard of "Breakfast at Wimbledon." Saturday's game between No. 19 Maryland and USC Upstate could be called "Brunch at the X."
The Terps and Spartans will tip off at 11 a.m., and with final exams starting Monday, the Xfinity Center likely will be even more devoid of students than it has been for most of the season. Mark Turgeon's team should be well rested after two straight nights with an 11 p.m. curfew.
"Two nights before the game is the most important time for me to get sleep," Turgeon said during a teleconference Friday.
Turgeon remembered one of his teams at Texas A&M tipping off at 11 a.m. in an Old Spice Classic game in Orlando, Fla. The Aggies defeated Temple, 54-51, with neither team topping 33.3 percent shooting from the field.
"It was really early. I've played a few 11 a.m. [tip-offs]. Not many. It's strange," he said.
Turgeon said Saturday's early start is a "lot different" than last year's 11 p.m. tip in the championship game of the Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where the Terps beat Providence for the championship.
Today's game will be the first of six in a Big Ten Network marathon.
"Both teams have a routine where you practice the night before, go through all their stuff, and you come the next day and you have a shootaround and you watch film and go through all their stuff," Turgeon said Friday. "I don't think either team will have an opportunity to do that. We got extra prepared tonight to make sure we knew what was going on."