First game in Maryland, Virginia basketball series finalized

Ahmed Ghafir
Jul 14
2 min read

The next domino in Maryland men’s basketball’s 2025-26 non-conference schedule has officially dropped as the program announced details for the first of four games in the renewed series against Virginia.

Maryland will travel to Charlottesville on Saturday, Dec. 20 to face Virginia, the program announced on Monday morning.

Maryland will also travel to Charlottesville in 2027-28 and will host the Hoos in both the 2026-27 and 2028-29 seasons after the program announced the renewed series back in September of 2024. Both head coaches who were involved with finalizing the series are no longer at their respective programs after Kevin Willard took over Villanova and Tony Bennett abruptly retired ahead of the 2024-25 season.

Maryland holds a 108-76 all-time series lead as the two teams are set to meet for the first time since the ACC-Big Ten challenge back during the 2018-19 season. Maryland is seeking its first win in Charlottesville since 2011 and have lost eight of their last nine against Virginia with the lone win back on March 9, 2014 when the Terps took down then-fifth-ranked Virginia, 75-69, in what marked the program’s final game in the ACC.

Of course, the upcoming non-conference matchup not only renews a longstanding ACC and border rivalry between the two teams, but it also serves as a homecoming game of sorts for Elijah Saunders, a senior forward who transferred to Maryland this offseason after spending one season at Virginia.

Maryland will kick off the 2025-26 season against Coppin State on Nov. 3 at the CFG Bank Arena before hosting Georgetown on Nov. 7 for the home opener. Maryland’s non-conference schedule also features three games in the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas with UNLV and Gonzaga on the schedule in late November, while Maryland will travel to face Marquette on Nov. 15 and host Old Dominion on Dec. 28.

2025-26 non-conference schedule to-date:

Home

Friday, Nov. 7: Georgetown

Sunday, Dec. 28: Old Dominion

Away

Saturday, Nov. 15: Marquette

Saturday, Dec. 20: Virginia

Neutral

Monday, Nov. 3: Coppin St, CFG Bank Arena (Baltimore)

Monday, Nov. 24: UNLV

Tuesday, Nov. 25: Gonzaga

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