The long offseason ends tonight for Maryland, and the Terps are bringing a completely revamped look to the floor at XFINITY Center.
Buzz Williams opens the 2026-27 season with an out-of-conference matchup against Bucknell, and the spotlight is already squarely on a roster that barely resembles last year’s group. Maryland is coming off a 12-21 season, and Williams enters year one with the pressure to flip the script quickly. The answer, at least on paper, comes from a massive reset: just four players are back from last season, with Pharrel Payne and Andre Mills serving as the main returning anchors.
The overhaul was aggressive. Maryland added the nation’s No. 14-ranked recruiting class and brought in seven transfers, headlined by guards DJ Wagner and Michael McNair Jr.
That influx has given the Terps a much deeper and more dynamic roster, and the early signs have been encouraging. In exhibition play, Maryland beat Georgia Tech 85-70 and then edged West Virginia 90-81 in overtime.
Now the real thing begins, and the opener should offer a first glimpse at how Williams plans to piece it all together. Payne gives Maryland a physical starting point, but the buzz around the program has centered on the newcomers.
Freshman guard Kaden House and five-star forward Baba Oladotun are the names drawing the most attention, while House in particular looked ready for minutes during the preseason. Wings Adama Tambedou and Austin Brown could also find early roles as the rotation takes shape.
“I don’t know how to compare - I don’t think that’s fair to the guys who were on our team last year, nor to the people who are part of our team this year,” Williams said. “Starting last December, we began to reconfigure a lot of different things as we were learning about Maryland, as we were learning about what we want to be in the Big Ten. Our staff was almost perfect, in my opinion, in their evaluation of the intangibles relative to the 11 players that we signed.”
Bucknell comes in with its own turnover, but Maryland still appears to have the clear edge in size and athleticism. That makes tonight about more than just the final score. The Terps want to establish a defensive identity, build chemistry in the rotation, and get 11 offseason additions their first official taste of College Park.
Maryland is also chasing its 13th straight season-opening win. And with Georgetown and No. 9 Virginia on deck later in the November schedule, the Terps have a chance to set the tone right away on their home floor.
In Other News...
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 🡒]
Andre Mills Helped Maryland Answer An Early Concern Fast
Marylands slow start against Bucknell could have lingered as a concern, but Andre Mills helped make sure it didnt last long. The Terrapins settled in and rolled to a 96-67 win, with Mills providing the kind of inside production that steadied the offense while Kaden House chipped in 14 points and two steals.
By the second half, Maryland had turned the game into the sort of comfortable finish that can matter early in the season, especially after an opening stretch that looked a little shaky. The Terrapins answered the initial concern quickly and then kept stretching the margin, leaving the bigger question now on how much of that early response can carry into the next step up in competition. [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 🡒]