Maryland men's basketball kicks off year two of Buzz Williams with exhibition win vs. Georgia Tech

22 hours ago

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Maryland men’s basketball unofficially kicked off year two of the Buzz Williams era with a 85-70 win vs. Georgia Tech at UMBC.

With Tomislav Buljan inactive and Lukas Sotell not dressed, Pharrel Payne anchored the starting lineup alongside Austin Brown, DJ Wagner, Mike McNair and Andre Mills. Yet the highlights started with freshman guard Kaden House, who fouled out with eight minutes left in the game yet finished with 14 points and two steals in 14 minutes.

Though he filled up the stat sheet, House stuck out most for his defense. After his first bucket came courtesy of a three in the corner, House’s defense in the halfcourt registered his first steal of the game for an easy dunk. The same could be said for his second steal after his dunk put Maryland ahead, 30-18. His nine points led all scorers at halftime where he was part of what went right for Maryland.

Yet with Maryland turning ten first half turnovers into 22 points, leading by as many as 27 points on Sunday while holding Georgia Tech to under 30% shooting from the field and 17% from three, House's performance was part of an overall encouraging defensive effort against a struggling Georgia Tech squad, evidence of what went right in the unofficial start of year two in the Buzz Williams era. Payne’s paint presence limited the Yellow Jackets’ production in the paint with Maryland nearly doubling the Yellow Jackets’ scoring.

DJ Wagner was able to create at times around the rim, while Andre Mills showed flashes of his freshman season with how aggressive he was downhill. Baba Oladotun, the five-star freshman out of Blake (Md.), had a pedestrian Maryland debut after posting five points, one rebound while earning four fouls in 21 minutes.

With the game already largely decided, Maryland turned in a 7-0 run to open the second half with the second free throw courtesy of Robert Jennings officially doubling up the Yellow Jackets on the scoreboard, 52-26, before an 8-0 run cut the lead back under 20 points. Buzz Williams then turned to the bench to celebrate after an uncontested dunk from Pharrel Payne pushed Maryland back ahead by 20. Even with the Yellow Jackets shooting over 60% from the field, Maryland was never threatened over the final 20 minutes with Alex K'Medehouto joining the freshmen on the floor to close out the game.

Bishop Boswell, who posted two points and two rebounds in eight minutes, did not appear in the second half.

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