Maryland opens its 2026-27 season Monday night with Bucknell coming to the XFINITY Center for a 7 p.m. tip, and the Terps will do it with a little extra pageantry. The game will stream on B1G+, while Johnny Holliday handles the radio call on the Maryland Sports Radio Network with Chris Knoche and Walt Williams.
It’s also the first of three promotional games tied to the 25th anniversary of Maryland’s 2002 NCAA championship. The night’s theme is Turn Back The Clock back to 2002!, with concession prices set at 2002 levels: hot dogs, pretzels, popcorn and 16oz fountain drinks will all be $2.50. Maryland will also debut its 2002 Throwback Uniforms.
The Terps have been reliable in these spots. Maryland is 77-30 all-time in season openers and has won 12 straight.
Head coach Buzz Williams is 16-3 in career season-openers. Against Bucknell, the numbers are even more lopsided: Maryland is 9-0 all-time after beating the Bison 91-67 at XFINITY Center on November 27, 2024.
Every meeting in the series has been played in College Park since it began in 1976-77.
Maryland also enters the new season with plenty of buzz around Andre Mills, whose first year in College Park turned into a breakout. After redshirting his true freshman season at Texas A&M in 2024-25, Mills averaged 12.2 points and 4.1 rebounds in 33 games, including 25 starts, and posted four 20-point games plus two 30-point outings.
His biggest night came at Northwestern, where he poured in 39 points to tie the program record for most points by a freshman in a single game, matching Diamond Stone’s effort against Penn State in 2015. Mills was one of four freshmen to score 30 or more in a game dating back to 1994, and only the second, along with Hall of Fame inductee Joe Smith, to do it twice in a freshman season.
Smith was back in the spotlight Friday, October 16, when he was officially inducted into the Maryland Athletics Hall of Fame as the 46th men's basketball alum or coach to be enshrined. A star at Maryland from 1993-95, Smith arrived as a highly touted recruit and earned Third Team Parade All-American honors in 1993 before becoming one of the program’s all-time greats.
In 1995, Smith swept major national honors, winning Naismith College Player of the Year, Associated Press Player of the Year and United Press International College Player of the Year. He also collected Consensus First Team All-American recognition that season and was named Third Team All-American by UPI as a freshman in 1994. Smith was the ACC Player of the Year in 1995 and ACC Rookie of the Year in 1994.
He finished his Maryland career with 1,524 points and 815 rebounds, added 34 double-doubles, and helped lead the Terrapins to consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances under Gary Williams. The Golden State Warriors took him No. 1 overall in the 1995 NBA Draft, and he went on to earn NBA All-Rookie First Team honors in 1996 and play 16 NBA seasons in more than 1,000 games with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Detroit Pistons and Cleveland Cavaliers.
In Other News...
Illinois Walked Into A Road Atmosphere Maryland Fans Couldnt Ignore
Maryland tried a creative fix for the empty-seat problem at home, dangling a raffle for free in-state tuition to students who stuck around for the Illinois game. The idea was simple enough: give the crowd a reason to stay engaged and make the atmosphere feel less like a half-empty building, especially with the program already reeling from a 2-5 start and the firing of head coach Mike Locksley.
The turnout still fell short of what the Terrapins were hoping for, but the promotion did produce one memorable moment for a student named Bryce Hartle. Even in a season defined by frustration, the university at least got a rare bright spot out of a night that underscored how much work remains to bring fans back and keep them there. [Read more 🡒]
Marylands Same Late-Game Problem Showed Up Again In Abdul-Rahims Debut
Aazaar Abdul-Rahims first game as Marylands interim head coach followed a familiar script in all the wrong ways. The Terps had a chance to settle things down and make a clean break from the recent turbulence, and for three quarters they were in position to do exactly that, with Malik Washington helping keep them in front and Illinois getting a strong effort from Javari Barnett.
Instead, the late-game issues that have haunted Maryland showed up again. The lead slipped away in the fourth quarter, and a game the Terps had controlled enough to feel within reach turned into a 20-17 loss, the kind of finish that leaves the bigger questions hanging over the program even after a coaching change. [Read more 🡒]