The Maryland Terrapins women’s basketball schedule opened last night as Brenda Frese’s No. 14 ranked Terps crushed Harvard 98-75 last night to get the season started with a W. That marks the 15th consecutive season opening with a win. Tonight, it is the men’s turn to get on it as they face Mount St. Mary’s at the XFINITY Center. The game will tip at 7 PM and will be streamed online through Big Ten Plus (B1G+), and of course on the radio with the Voice of the Terps Johnny Holliday.
This is the 105th season of Terps basketball and they are looking to extend their win streak in home openers (46) dating back to the 1977-78 season during the Lefty Driesell era – the third-longest such streak nationally. This is just the third time that Maryland has opened its season against the Mountaineers after having done so on Nov. 23, 1991 (W, 83-53) and Nov. 13, 2015 (W, 80-56).
The Big-Ten announced their western expansion and added USC, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington for the 2024 season, as well as a new multi-billion-dollar media rights deal with Fox, CBS, NBC, and Peacock that will guarantee each school at least $50 million annually. The expansion to 18-schools makes this the most powerful basketball conference in the NCAA. That will add a lot of nationwide exposure as the Big-Ten expands east coast to west coast.
Tonight will also begin year two of the Kevin Willard era. The Terps return the “Big Three” of fifth-year seniors Jahmir Young and Donta Scott, along with junior big man Julian Reese for the upcoming year. The question going forward for Willard is a starting five as the team evolves. We saw a little bit of this last year, and with three starters locked-in, we have to see who joins them for the full five.
“I think the biggest thing is seeing how [our] guys react to different lineups on the floor because we weren’t able to do that whatsoever in the first few [pre-season] games.”
— head coach Kevin Willard said
Fans will also have their first look at Maryland’s top-15 recruiting class of DeShawn Harris-Smith, Jamie Kaiser, Jr., and Jahnathan Lamothe alongside transfers Jordan Geronimo (Indiana), Chance Stephens (LMU), and Mady Traore (New Mexico State).
Last year, the Terps won 22 games and reached the NCAA Tournament Second Round before falling to No. 1 Alabama. The Terps were ranked as high as No. 6 in the NET and as high as No. 13 in the AP Top 25 Poll last season. Maryland went 8-0 to open last season before winning 8-of-10 in the heart of the Big Ten schedule. Home court was huge for Maryland as the Terps posted a 16-1 record at XFINITY including 10-0 in Big Ten games.
Maryland’s record: 0-0, 0-0 Big Ten
Mt. Saint Mary’s record: 0-0
All-time series: Maryland leads 2-0
DraftKings Sportsbook: Maryland -20.5, O/U 131.5
Tip-off: Tuesday, November 7, 7:00 pm ET
Arena: XFinity Center • College Park, Maryland
TV: N/A
Streaming TV: Big-10 Network with Brendan Hartlove and Tyler Lochte
Radio: Audacy Radio App / SiriusXM 136; 105.7 FM (Balt.) / 980 AM (D.C.) — Johnny Holliday (play-by-play), (pxp), Chris Knoche (analyst), Walt Williams (analyst), Tom Marchitto (engineer)
