Preview: Maryland men's basketball set for tune-up game vs. Wagner

Ahmed Ghafir
3 days ago
2 min read

Maryland (5-3) vs. Wagner (1-5)

When & Where: December 2, 2025 | 8:00 PM | Xfinity Center

TV: BTN | Ed Cohen (pxp), Christy Winters Scott (analyst)

Radio: 105.7 FM (Baltimore) | 980 AM (DC) | SiriusXM channel 372

Betting: Maryland +22.5 | O/U: 143.5

After opening the Players Era tournament with a sound 74-67 win vs. UNLV, Maryland men’s basketball returns to defend home court on Tuesday night after consecutive blowout losses in the first two games against ranked opponents, first Gonzaga then Alabama.

The games came with a mixed bag of injury news with Myles Rice and Pharrel Payne back and available while Solomon Washington remained inactive, as reported, as the senior looks to make his Maryland debut. Whether that happens on Tuesday or Saturday in the Big Ten opener vs. Iowa is a possibility as Maryland inches closer to full strength. Still, Tuesday gives Maryland its final chance at finding some sort of chemistry before getting their first test at conference play.

They will do so in the first matchup against Wagner since 2014, an 82-48 win as Dez Wells finished with a game-high 18 points. Wagner has yet to play a home game and have opened the season with five consecutive losses, though three by seven points or less including a seven-point loss vs. Seton Hall and one point overtime loss vs. UMBC, before picking up an overtime win vs. Manhattan last Wednesday. Junior guard Nick Jones leads the way as one of two double digit scorers, averaging nearly 17 points per game while shooting nearly 50% from the field and 40% from three.

As head coach Buzz Williams alluded to during his weekly appearance on 105.7, Wagner will test Maryland’s perimeter defense with the Seahawks entering Tuesday night shooting over 44% from three and averaging nearly nine made threes per game to fuel an offense averaging nearly 75 points. For a Maryland defense fresh off allowing 100+ points in consecutive games for the first time since the early 1990s, head coach Buzz Williams will put a premium on defending the three-point arc with the backcourt looking to stabilize the rotation.

While Tuesday’s game won’t influence the ranking, Maryland men’s basketball was humbled in the first edition of the 2025-26 NET rankings, released by the NCAA on Monday morning. Maryland ranked last among Big Ten teams after debuting at 200^th, sandwiched between Green Bay and Georgia Tech.

While it's a humbling new reality for Maryland as they look to climb through November into the start of 2026, it’s not a surprise given head coach Buzz Williams and his team losing the last two games against top-15 opponents by a combined 72 points, ultimately proving to be among the worst losses in program history.

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