Preview: Maryland basketball set for tune-up vs. Mount St. Mary's ahead of Players Era Festival

Ahmed Ghafir
3 days ago
3 min read

Mount St. Mary’s (1-3) vs. Maryland (3-1)

When & Where: November 19, 2025 | 7:00 PM | Xfinity Center

Streaming: B1G+

Radio: One Maryland App | 105.7 FM (Baltimore) | 980 AM (DC) | SiriusXM channel 83

Betting: Maryland -19.5 | O/U: 137.5 (FanDuel)

Maryland men's basketball will look for its second straight win at home after securing the first road win under head coach Buzz Williams, an 89-82 win at Marquette on Saturday. Now, Maryland will shift its attention to its third local opponent in November with Mount St. Mary's headed to College Park for a 7 PM tipoff. Maryland has won all 12 all-time matchups between the two teams, including an 11-0 record at home, with Maryland securing a 34-point win just over one year ago in the last matchup.

Wednesday also marks the 1,500^th men's basketball game for Johnny Holliday, the Voice of the Terps as already the second-longest serving play-by-play man in the Big Ten

behind Indiana's Don Fischer.

Mount St. Mary's will also look for its first-ever win against a Big Ten team in 25 team when second-year head coach Donny Lind lead his team one year removed from an NCAA Tournament appearance. Lind returns six along his 16-man roster, including a pair of walk-ons, as Mount St. Mary's was picked to finish ninth in the annual Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Preseason Coaches Poll. A pair of transfers - Trey Deveaux (Western Illinois) and Luke McEldon (Santa Clara) - are leading the way tied with a team-high 11 points per game with Radford grad transfer guard Xavier Lipscomb the third starter averaging double figures with 10.8 points per game.

What to watch for on Wednesday

First Post-Payne game

While Maryland is days removed from the first statement win of the Buzz Williams era, head coach Buzz Williams will watch his team take the floor without Pharrel Payne available for the first time this season. The good news is the star big man seems to have avoided a major injury with a likely return once the calendar turns to 2026, but Wednesday will mark the first chance for the new-look frontcourt to get comfortable ahead of a critical set of games, along with a road trip to Virginia nearly one month away.

After Payne went down, Virginia transfer Elijah Saunders had arguably his most impressive stretch as a Terp where he’ll become an even bigger focal point. Collin Metcalf, meanwhile, initially worked to get back to full strength

“We do need him to continue to try to figure it out. Even though you guys don't know it and because I don't speak of player injuries, he's probably not completely back to where he needs to be,” Williams said after the exhibition win. “But from a size standpoint, he can help us. But he did not help us in the one minute and relative to the time, score, momentum of the game, I didn't think we had many possessions to give away.”

After playing just over nine minutes in his first two regular season appearances, Metcalf is coming off nearly 12 minutes vs. Marquette where he finished with two rebounds, two blocks and three fouls. Staying available will be now become a bigger key one week after Williams emphasized the need for his team to defend without fouling.

Can Maryland limit turnovers?

Maryland enters Tuesday ranked T-245^th nationally in turnovers per game and have committed at least 12 in all four regular season games. While a stabilized backcourt has been part of the struggles taking care of the ball to open the Buzz Williams era, Maryland will have a chance to stabilize and be more efficient ahead of next week’s Players Era Festival in Las Vegas. Mount St. Mary’s has yet to force opponents into 12 or more turnovers in any of their four games this season, giving Maryland a chance to improve upon its second-worst turnover rate among Big Ten teams this season.

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