Maryland’s exhibition win over West Virginia gave Buzz Williams a little bit of everything, and that’s exactly the point.
The Terps spent one game getting stretched in nearly every direction: they fell behind by 19 in the first half, clawed back from that hole, grabbed the lead on a Mike McNair 3-pointer midway through the second half, then battled through a wild finish in which the lead flipped four times in the final 5:17 of regulation. Even after Maryland led 75-70 late, West Virginia forced overtime. Maryland still found a way to finish the job.
That kind of night can be useful beyond the final score. The Terps saw what it looks like when an opponent catches fire from deep - West Virginia was 8-for-17 from 3-point range in the first half - and they also got a look at how they respond when a late-game cushion disappears. The Lorient Brenen pick-and-roll dunk that sent the game to overtime is not the sort of play Maryland is likely to see against Bucknell, Alcorn State or Wagner, but it gives Williams a clear teaching clip if his team is in a similar spot later against Georgetown or Virginia.
For all the chaos, the biggest constants for Maryland were Pharrel Payne and Andre Mills.
On a roster loaded with 11 newcomers, the two returning pieces were the ones carrying the offense. Payne and Mills finished as the game’s top scorers with 26 and 27 points, respectively. Payne paired that with 13 rebounds and two blocks in 37 minutes, while Mills added his scoring in a more perimeter-driven way, going 4-for-7 from 3 and finishing 9-for-15 overall.
Payne’s night wasn’t smooth from start to finish. As West Virginia built its 46-31 halftime lead, he went scoreless over the final 9:11 of the first half and took just one shot in the last 8:18. But he came out hard after the break, scoring 10 of Maryland’s first 12 points of the second half as the Terps cut the deficit from 15 to seven.
His value went well beyond the scoring. Payne grabbed 10 offensive rebounds, and those extra possessions turned directly into 11 Maryland second-chance points. For a team that finished 352nd out of 365 Division I teams in field-goal percentage last season, that kind of work on the glass matters.
Mills, meanwhile, gave Maryland the kind of outside and rim pressure that makes an inside-out attack real. He ran the floor, attacked the basket, got to the line and kept the offense moving.
Even with a few shaky shot choices early, he settled in and turned in a highly efficient scoring night. That matters because the question about Mills has shifted.
After his late-season breakout last year, including a 39-point game against Northwestern in February, it’s looking less like a fluke and more like who he is.
Through two exhibition games, Payne and Mills have established themselves as Maryland’s most reliable scoring options. They’ve already lifted the team’s offensive floor. What comes next will depend on how quickly the 11 newcomers raise the ceiling.
The other concern is much simpler: Maryland is still giving the ball away too often.
Across its two exhibition games, the Terps have committed 33 turnovers. That’s not a comforting number for a team that finished last in the Big Ten in turnover percentage during conference play last season.
Maryland’s first exhibition against Georgia Tech came with some expected sloppiness - nine players turned it over at least once, though nobody had more than two, and 14 players got on the floor. The West Virginia game was more troubling. Payne and Mills, Maryland’s two highest-usage players, were responsible for nine of the Terps’ 16 turnovers.
That’s where the real concern sits. Payne had at least three turnovers in six of the 10 games he played last season, and if he’s going to be the center of Maryland’s offense, the giveaways have to come down.
In Other News...
Maryland Finally Got Tight End Production And It Still Wasn't Enough
Marylands tight end room gave the offense a lift in the first half of its homecoming game, which is the kind of development the Terrapins had been searching for as conference play kept grinding on. Preston Howard came up with a 25-yard catch, Damon Hall Jr. found the end zone for the first time in his career, and Dorian Fleming was again a steady presence in the passing game as Maryland tried to keep pace at home.
Fleming finished with two touchdown catches and extended his consecutive-catch streak to 16 games, a reminder that the position has become one of the more reliable parts of the offense. Even with that boost, Maryland still came up short in a 37-30 loss, a defeat that stretched its conference losing streak to 12 games and left the team looking for answers despite finally getting the production it wanted from tight end. [Read more 🡒]