Maryland men's basketball looking to prove themselves against a "completely different" Georgetown

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After officially opening year two of the Buzz Williams era, redshirt sophomore guard Andre Mills gave a simple message for what game two meant: “personal.”

That’s a reference to how the first game in the four-year series went as Georgetown walked out of Xfinity Center with a ten-point win in the first true test for the new coaching staff, marking a deflating reality ahead of a historically bad regular season.

Now, Maryland will face a “completely different team” in a Georgetown Hoyas squad picked to finish tenth in the Big East in 2026-27.

“[Jaland Lowe] wasn’t on their team last year, much more prominent role,” head coach Buzz Williams said of the Hoyas. “[Elmarko Jackson] wasn’t on their team, [Kayvaun Mulready] is a year older, [Josiah Parker] is even more effective than he was last year. I think [Chol Machot] is sneaky good. So relative to their personnel, completely different.”

Williams also pointed to the presence of Kentucky transfer and starting point guard Jaland Lowe as one that gives the Hoyas “much more of a scorer” as head coach Ed Cooley built a “much different team, much better team. Lowe serves as one of five incoming transfers, though enters Saturday as arguably the biggest one on Maryland’s scouting report.

7-foot-1 big Vince Iwuchukwu picked up where he left off to end last season and posted a near double-double in the regular season opener, presenting a challenge to Maryland’s frontcourt anchored by Pharrel Payne and Tomislav Buljan.

“From a defensive standpoint, he’s borderline elite. Incredible rim protection,” Williams said of Iwuchukwu. “His defensive rebound percentage is very, very high and he does a great job on the offensive glass as well. I think he’s much more comfortable with the ball in his hands no matter whether he’s catching it off a roll or catching it off a post feed than he was last year. I think the attention that he commands makes you have to make a decision on how you're going to handle those touches.”

Yet for a Maryland team looking to prove year two looks different than year one, there’s a recognition that Saturday night is “definitely an early test.”

“We want these types of games,” George Turkson Jr. said. “It’s just going to reveal where we’re at right now. And honestly it’s a great game coming out of a great win. You want to have these battles, you want to have these tests heading into a deep season.”

Turkson pointed to the improved team chemistry as one of the key differences between year one and two in College Park, but the chance to prove it on the floor is something that Maryland takes personally.

“Especially because it was a close loss last year and it’s also a rivalry,” Turkson added. “There’s a lot of history behind Georgetown and Maryland so I definitely think it’s something that we’re going to take personal, especially because we lost last year.”

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