Maryland men’s basketball will give fans an early look at its 2026-27 team on Sunday, Oct. 11, when the Terps face Georgia Tech in an exhibition at UMBC’s Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena in Baltimore. The preseason schedule also includes a second tune-up against West Virginia on Sunday, Oct. 18 at 3 PM at XFINITY Center.
A major storyline for Maryland is Pharrel Payne, who earned a spot on the Preseason All-Big Ten Team. One of the league’s premier post players, Payne is back for his fifth year after missing most of 2025-26 because of injury.
Payne’s first season in College Park was a productive one before the setback. He started 10 games and averaged 17.5 points and 7.2 rebounds, while shooting 62.4 percent from the floor and 71.9 percent at the free throw line. He posted three double-doubles in those 10 appearances, including 17 points and 14 rebounds at Iowa, 30 points and 10 rebounds against Wagner, and 17 points and 11 rebounds against Georgetown.
Over the course of his career, Payne has appeared in 106 games with 47 starts across stops at Minnesota from 2022-24, Texas A&M in 2024-25, and Maryland in 2025-26. He has averaged 10.3 points and 5.6 rebounds while shooting 63.8 percent from the field.
Andre Mills is another key returner after a breakout year for the Terps. Following a redshirt season at Texas A&M in 2024-25, Mills delivered a strong freshman campaign in College Park, averaging 12.2 points and 4.1 rebounds over 33 games with 25 starts.
Mills had four 20-point games and two performances of 30 points or more. His career-high 39 points at Northwestern tied the program record for most points by a freshman in a single game, matching Diamond Stone’s effort against Penn State in 2015. Mills became one of four freshmen to score at least 30 in a game since 1994, and he is only the second, along with Hall of Fame inductee Joe Smith, to do it twice in a freshman season.
Maryland also enters the preseason with a top-20 incoming class. The program’s final note on the roster outlook pointed to “The Beast Entering The Hall of Fame.”
In Other News...
Marylands Late-Game Problem Is Becoming A Bigger Mike Locksley Issue
Marylands recent slide has kept showing the same troubling pattern: the Terps have been hanging around long enough to make games interesting, then unraveling when the pressure spikes. Malik Washington has been part of that story with multiple interceptions, including pick-sixes, and the defense has had its own rough stretches as opponents find too many explosive plays. For a team already trying to steady itself in Big Ten play, the late-game lapses have turned into the kind of issue that follows a program from week to week.
Mike Locksley has already acknowledged the broader challenge of getting his team back on track, pointing to the need for cleaner fundamentals and a more complete effort as Maryland works through injuries and looks ahead to reinforcements returning soon. The concern now is less about one bad quarter than a pattern that keeps resurfacing, and until the Terps show they can finish better, every close game starts to feel like the same movie with a different ending. [Read more 🡒]