Preview: Maryland men's basketball set for non-conference finale vs. Old Dominion

Ahmed Ghafir
Dec 28, 2025
2 min read

Maryland (6-6, 0-2 B1G) vs. Old Dominion (4-9, 1-1 SBC)

When: Sunday, December 27 | 6:00 PM

Where: XFINITY Center

Television: BTN

Streaming: www.foxsports.com/live/btn

Radio: 105.7 FM, 980 AM DC, SiriusXM 84

Maryland men's basketball is set for its final tune-up game before shifting its full focus back to conference play with Old Dominion set to head to College Park on Sunday evening.

This marks the first matchup between the two teams since 2020 as Maryland leads the all-time series, 5-1.

It will mark a game with several familiar faces on the Monarchs' staff with Mike Jones, former Maryland assistant, now in his second season as Old Dominion's head coach. Former Maryland center Caelum Swanton-Rodger headed back to the Xfinity Center for the first time since transferring, starting all 13 games while averaging 7.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 17 blocks in 2025-26. Zacch Wiggins, the younger brother of former Maryland and current Thunder guard Aaron Wiggins, will also suit up for ODU as he averages 15 minutes per game.

But the Monarchs will also enter Sunday's matchup looking for their first road win in their ninth try after falling to George Washington (23 point loss), Xavier (30 point loss), Villanova (14 point loss) and George Mason (12 point loss) along the way into their second-to-last regular season game in 2025.

For head coach Buzz Williams and his squad, Sunday marks a chance for Maryland to build some positive momentum and find chemistry without Pharrel Payne.

Payne's absence moved Elijah Saunders to the five with George Turkson Jr. drawing the start in each of the last two games, while grad transfer Collin Metcalf remains on the outside-looking-in of the rotation. Finding serviceable minutes at the five without Payne is a question mark for Maryland, but there are others that have been cause for concern through the first month of the season.

Maryland leads the Big Ten with over 14 turnovers per game, while the starting lineup has also contributed to at least eight turnovers in seven of 12 games so far this year. While Diggy Coit has provided a scoring spark with already a 30-point and 40-point game under his belt powered behind eight made threes in each game, stabilizing the point guard spot has been a question mark for Maryland against top competition.

Buzz Williams pointed to only four games in December as reason for optimism given the increased practice time for a new-look roster that has struggled with health all offseason into the first two months of the season. While Maryland is still figuring out playing without Payne, its centerpiece who became the focal point of Buzz's early offense, Sunday gives a chance for Maryland to build positive momentum behind Darius Adams and the rest of the guards before the competition picks up.

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