Andre Mills is giving Maryland exactly the kind of second-year lift Buzz Williams needs.
With the 2026-27 men’s college basketball season set to tip off next month, the Terrapins are coming off a rough first year under Williams, finishing 12-21 overall and 4-16. But the mood around College Park has shifted, and a big reason is that this roster looks far more complete than the one that struggled a season ago.
Maryland added talent in a few different ways this offseason. The Terps brought in a recruiting class ranked No. 3 nationally by 247Sports, headlined by five-star local forward Baba Oladotun. They also went to the transfer portal for three combo guards who can shoot, defend and bring size on the perimeter, while adding forwards who should help with rebounding after Maryland averaged only 35.4 boards per game, which ranked 171st in the country.
Still, the biggest boost may be the players who decided not to leave. Big man Pharrel Payne and guard Andre Mills both chose to return to College Park, and Mills in particular looks ready for a larger role.
The 6-foot-4, 205-pound guard is expected to be one of Williams’s starting guards, and he already showed what that can look like as a freshman. Mills averaged 12.2 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.6 assists while shooting 40.9% from the field and 34.6% from three.
His late-season surge gave Maryland a real glimpse of what he can become. Starting the final 12 games, Mills settled into the offense and started producing as a scoring threat in multiple ways. He used his frame to get into the paint, knocked down mid-range looks, and stretched the floor when his shot was there.
Williams had already pointed to the inconsistency in Mills’s role during that November-to-December stretch, but the guard kept making the most of his minutes. He played with energy, confidence and aggression, traits that carried over into the offseason and showed up again in Maryland’s final exhibition game.
Two nights ago against West Virginia, Mills delivered in a 90-81 overtime win. He scored a team-high 27 points on 9-of-15 shooting, hit 4-of-7 from three, and added eight rebounds, one block and one assist.
The performance showed a player operating with real control. Mills mixed spot-up threes with contested pull-ups, coast-to-coast drives and difficult finishes through contact, and he kept bringing intensity on the defensive end as Maryland rallied from 15 points down.
Maryland has had its share of standout guards over the years, including Jahmir Young, Melo Trimble, Anthony Cowan Jr., Steve Francis, Steve Blake, Greivis Vasquez and Gene Shue. If Mills keeps building on what he showed in the spring and in the exhibition, he could become a major part of the Terps’ turnaround this season.
In Other News...
Maryland Football Just Entered A Reset Fans Never Expected
Maryland football is headed into an unexpected reset after Michael Locksley stepped down as head coach at the University of Maryland, effective immediately. The move comes with the season still in motion, and the school has already said it will launch a national search for his permanent replacement.
Aazaar Abdul-Rahim will take over in the interim for the rest of the year, giving the Terrapins a short-term bridge while the bigger question hangs over the program. For Maryland, the next few weeks are now about keeping the locker room steady, managing the finish to the season and figuring out what kind of leadership the program wants next. [Read more 🡒]
Marylands Next Game Suddenly Feels Bigger Than Fans Expected
A bye week often gives a program a chance to reset, but Maryland comes out of it with a matchup that carries a little extra weight. The Terps are back at home on Saturday, Oct. 31, and the timing alone gives the game a different feel, with both sides trying to regroup after recent losses and both staffs having made midseason changes on defense.
Illinois is the visitor for a noon kickoff on BTN, and the setting makes this one stand out before the ball is even teed up. For Maryland, the date adds a small bit of history to the occasion, and the combination of a fresh start, a conference opponent and a Halloween stage gives this game a little more edge than a typical late-October home date. [Read more 🡒]
Maryland Just Made The Program Reset Fans Knew Was Coming
Maryland moved on from Mike Locksley in the middle of his eighth season, a jolt that had been building for weeks as the Terps kept stumbling through another rough stretch against higher-level competition. The decision ends a run that included some real progress, especially the three straight bowl wins from 2021 to 2023, but it also closes the book on a tenure that never fully escaped the frustration of a 38-49 record since 2019.
Athletic director Jim Smith, who arrived in 2025, made the call with five games still left on the schedule, a sign that the programs leadership decided there was no point waiting any longer for a turnaround. For Maryland, the timing matters almost as much as the move itself, because the next coach will be inheriting a roster, a fan base and a standard that have all been shaped by years of uneven results and one very clear expectation: the reset has to work. [Read more 🡒]