Jim Smith confirms Pharrel Payne's return to Maryland men's basketball in 2026-27

Ahmed Ghafir
39 minutes ago
1 min read

The final domino in Maryland men's basketball's 2026-27 roster may have dropped on Monday afternoon: Pharrel Payne has been granted another season of eligibility and is officially set to return to College Park next season.

The decision was finalized shortly after the 2026-27 regular season ended, though the hold up has remained on a medical waiver with Smith confirming the news after weeks of growing noise that a second season had been granted.

"We're going to get Pharrel Payne back. He was the linchpin of the team aand when he went down, it was going to be a really hard season and it was," Smith said in an interview on BTN.

Payne's return is expected, but notable for Maryland with head coach Buzz Williams now getting his anchor in the frontcourt alongside Tomislav Buljan. Maryland also added Robert Jennings Jr. to add experienced depth to the frontcourt where he could play both the four and five, while Alexandre K'Medehouto became the final addition of the roster after moving into College Park last weekend. Maryland also returns George Turkson at the four while former stock riser Adama Tambedou is roughly one month removed from enrolling in College Park to give the frontcourt depth.

In just ten games last season, Payne averaged 17.5 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.1 blocks while shooting over 62% from the field as he now looks to materialize into the All-Big Ten player that was projected ahead of his first season with the program.

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