Andre Mills wasted no time making his presence felt in Maryland’s season opener, and by the end of the night his numbers told the story of a team that shook off a sluggish start and rolled past Bucknell, 96-67, on Monday.
Mills finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds in just 23 minutes, logging his second double-double as a Terp while shooting 66.7% from the field. Kaden House added 14 points and two steals in 18 minutes, while Pharrel Payne did most of his damage in the first half. Maryland also controlled the glass in a big way, finishing with a 32-rebound edge and 28 offensive boards compared with Bucknell’s six.
Buzz Williams opened with DJ Wagner, Mills, Mike McNair Jr., Tomislav Buljan and Payne, but the early issue was simple: Maryland couldn’t buy a basket. Mills got the offense moving, but after McNair hit a three about three minutes in, the Terps went into a deep freeze. Over the next 8:16, Maryland managed just six points, all from the free throw line, before Mills finished a layup to keep the Terps barely in front.
The game turned when Bucknell briefly moved ahead by two and McNair answered with another three with seven minutes left in the half. That sparked a 10-0 Maryland run. Bucknell hit a three to try to stop the bleeding, but Bishop Boswell answered with one of his own to put Maryland up 36-28 and force a timeout.
From there, the Terps finished the half with a burst. Boswell, Robert Jennings Jr. and Mills each knocked down threes as Maryland closed on a 21-5 run over the final seven minutes.
House replaced Wagner in the starting lineup to open the second half, and Maryland kept leaning on its platoon-style substitutions while turning the game into a runaway. Wagner attacked the paint with more force and finished at the rim on back-to-back possessions, and Mills followed by doing the same to help fuel an 8-0 run. After Bucknell answered with a three, House finished a one-hand slam from the baseline to stretch the lead to 24.
Maryland pushed the margin to as many as 29 and never let Bucknell back within striking distance, leading by at least 20 for the final 13:52 on the way to the win.
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Maryland's New-Look Opener Gave Terps Fans A Reason To Dream
Maryland opened its 2026-27 basketball season with a lopsided 96-67 win over Bucknell, a result that did more than just extend a streak. It gave the Terps their highest-scoring season opener since 2010 and pushed their run of opening-night victories to 13 straight, a strong first step in a year that already carries extra meaning as the program marks the 25th anniversary of its 2002 national championship.
Andre Mills set the tone for the new-look Terps, finishing with 22 points and 11 rebounds in a performance that helped make the opener feel less like a tune-up and more like an early statement. For Maryland fans, it was the kind of debut that invites bigger questions about how far this group can go, even if there is still plenty of season left to answer them. [Read more 🡒]
Maryland Football Rankings Just Shook Up Flowers' Playoff Path
The latest High School On SI Maryland football Top 25 brought a fresh wrinkle to the state playoff picture, with Charles H. Flowers making its debut at No. 22. The rankings still have Saint Frances Academy at No. 1, while several familiar powers such as Quince Orchard, Linganore and Paul Laurence Dunbar are set to begin title defenses this weekend, adding another layer of urgency as the postseason race takes shape.
For Flowers, the bigger development is tied to a shakeup elsewhere in the standings. Henry A. Wise has been pushed out of the Top 10 after forfeiting four victories because of MPSSAA and Prince Georges County athletic rule violations, a move that has altered playoff seeding across the board. The ripple effect reaches the Falcons too, since one of those forfeited results came against Flowers, leaving the path ahead a little clearer but the bracket picture still very much in flux. [Read more 🡒]
Maryland Fans Got One Big Reason For Hope On Both Sides
Marylands basketball season opened with a split that still gave fans plenty to feel better about. The women went to France and pushed No. 1 South Carolina before falling by eight, a result that looked far more competitive than the matchup on paper, while the men came home and handled Bucknell in their opener with a comfortable win.
The encouraging part for Maryland was the way both teams found immediate help from new faces. On the womens side, Addi Mack gave the Terps a jolt in the season opener, and on the mens side, freshman Baba Oladotun made his first impression off the bench in a game that never got away from Maryland. For a program trying to build momentum on both sides, that kind of early production is exactly the sort of sign that can carry real weight. [Read more 🡒]