Julian Reese returning to Maryland for senior season

Kevin Willard has secured another win in the early stages of the offseason as Julian Reese has officially announced his return for his senior season.

The growing expectation through the last month of the season was that the Baltimore native was expected to enter the transfer portal, but that gradually changed once the offseason began as Reese stayed in College Park through spring break. Reese was also part of the recruiting pitch during the visit with former Belmont guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie over the weekend and was in the Xfinity Center working out again before finalizing his decision early this week.

With Reese’s return now complete, Maryland has firepower in the frontcourt as he’ll play alongside his former high school teammate and five-star center Derik Queen. While Caelum Swanton-Rodger was the second player to depart, Maryland returns Mady Traore and Braden Pierce in 2024-25 with Jordan Geronimo still another stay-or-go decision.

Now a two-time All-Big Ten selection, Reese enters his senior season at Maryland inside the top-20 in career field goal percentage (7th), rebounds (t-17th) and blocks (t-11th) while averaging 10.3 points per game throughout his career. After making his first career start against Rutgers during his freshman season, Reese was an integral part of Maryland’s success in the frontcourt as he went on to shoot 63.2% from the field his sophomore year, good for third-best in program history. Alongside Jahmir Young and Donta Scott, Julian Reese was one of the lone bright spots in a disappointing year two for Willard where the Baltimore native posted 27 double-doubles as a junior, giving him 56 total over three seasons, while nearly averaging so with 13.7 points and 9.5 rebounds. His 207 defensive rebounds as a junior are the seventh-most in program history, while his three offensive rebounds per game are the tenth-most in program history.

Reese started in every game available this season, though was inactive in the season-finale road loss vs. Penn State.

Meanwhile, Maryland added its first portal commitment of the offseason when former Virginia Tech guard Rodney Rice went public with his decision less than one week after entering the transfer portal.

“I knew it was a good situation when I first took the visit,” Rice told IBG about his commitment to Maryland. “As soon as I took my visit, that’s when I knew. I still had some other options but we made Maryland work. I wanted to come because first of all, it’s home. I’ve been wanting to come to Maryland for a long time. When I was getting recruited out of high school, watching Melo Trimble and Ant Cowan play, that’s when I really wanted to come.”

Maryland will now wait to see whether it’s the only announcement of the week with all eyes on former Belmont guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie.

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