Preview: Maryland men's basketball set for Big Ten opener vs. Iowa

Maryland (6-3) at #25 Iowa (7-1)

When & Where: at Iowa | Dec. 6, 2025 | 4:00 PM ET | Carver-Hawkeye Arena

TV: FS1 | Connor Onion (pxp), Steve Prohm (analyst)

Radio: WJZ-FM 105.7 FM (Baltimore) | The TEAM 980 AM (DC) | SiriusXM channel 391

Betting: Maryland +9.5 | O/U: 135.5

After ending a two-game slide with an 89-63 win vs. Wagner, Maryland men’s basketball is set for its next test through the first third of the 2025-26 season with head coach Buzz Williams leading his team into Iowa for the Big Ten opener.

Maryland is 3-4 all-time at Iowa and have split the last ten games overall in the series, though Saturday will mark a matchup between a pair of first-year head coaches with Buzz Williams set to square off against Ben McCollum. Williams enters Saturday with wins in six of his last ten conference openers across stints at Texas A&M and Virginia Tech.

Iowa was predicted to finish eighth in the preseason Big Ten standings with Northern Illinois transfer point guard Bennett Stirtz, who followed McCollum, anchoring the new-look Hawkeyes. Robert Morris transfer forward Alvaro Folgueiras sits second on the team in scoring as a key part of the Hawkeyes rotation, while guard Isaia Howard is averaging nearly eight points in 20 minutes while shooting over 51% from the field.  Iowa enters Saturday fresh off their first loss of the season, a 71-52 drubbing against seventh-ranked Michigan State in East Lansing after falling behind by double digits for the final 30 minutes of regulation.

Taking care of possessions

This has been a question mark for Maryland with double digit turnovers in each of their first seven games before finishing with nine in the 32-point loss vs. Alabama in Las Vegas. Maryland is also coming off a season-low eight turnovers against Wagner, but on Saturday, ball security will become even more magnified.

While Maryland hasn’t been able to always play fast, they’ll face an Iowa team that plays among the slowest tempo teams in the country with the Hawkeyes entering Saturday ranked 359^th in adjusted tempo, per KenPom.

That tempo has helped Iowa become one of the best defensive teams in the country, entering Saturday ranked tenth nationally and allowing opponents to score 70 or more points in just two of their eight games to open the season.

That puts an emphasis on Maryland’s points per possession, especially for a team ranked 168^th nationally in scoring and 293^rd in shooting percentage. A big boost to limit Iowa’s offense will be Solomon Washington, who posted ten points and six rebounds with a block and steal in his Maryland debut. Washington could give Maryland a unique defensive look to limit Bennett Stirtz, who was named Acrisure Classic MVP as the lone Hawkeye averaging double-figures, 18 points per game on nearly 49% shooting. But Stritz could be a matchup primarily for freshman guard Darius Adams, proving to be the matchup to watch on Saturday.

Rebounding

Iowa enters Saturday as the worst-rebounding team in the Big Ten with just two players on the roster 6-foot-10 or taller, yet it’s Maryland who enters Saturday with the sub-zero rebounding margin as they have been outrebounded in five games this season. Does Solomon Washington carve his role on the glass in an expanded role for the first time since healthy? Can Collin Metcalf provide meaningful minutes behind Payne for the first time this season? Can the guards like Andre Mills and Darius Adams capitalize on a renewed emphasis to crash the glass?

With possessions – and points – at a premium on Saturday, Maryland will have to find a way to win the rebounding battle in the Big Ten opener.