Maryland has added another non-conference game against a high major opponent heading into Kevin Willard’s first season as head coach.
Maryland will face Tennessee on December 11 at the Barclays Center in a quadruple header, per Jon Rothstein. Oklahoma State will also face Virginia Tech, Iona will face St. Bonaventure while UMass will face Hofstra.
The Vols return four players who played at least 21 games last season in Santiago Vescovi, Josiah-Jordan James, Oliver Nkamhoua and Uros Plavsic while head coach Rick Barnes added Tyreke Key, who averaged 17.2 points during the 2019-20 season at Indiana State. Tennessee is ranked at 19th in ESPN’s projected top 25 for the upcoming season. Tennessee finished 27-8 overall last season and won its first SEC Tournament in 43 years before drawing a three-seed in the NCAA Tournament, but lost 76-68 in the second round to Michigan.
With the ACC-Big Ten Challenge providing the Terps another quality game to beef up their non-conference schedule, Maryland previously announced that they will also face St. Louis on November 19 in the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament with Miami and Providence set to take on the winner or loser in the first game. Barry P. Gossett athletic director Damon Evans was outspoken about the need for Maryland to add higher profile opponents to the basketball schedule during the final stages of the head coaching search and told the Washington Post, ““there’s plenty of room in there to play some very, very good teams. And those are my intentions moving forward.”
The news comes on the same day that former Georgetown guard Donald Carey officially withdrew his name from the 2022 NBA Draft to secure Maryland’s starting backcourt alongside Jahmir Young for the upcoming season. Maryland also returns Julian Reese, Hakim Hart and Donta Scott along the roster next season while Carey, Young, former Seton Hall guard Jahari Long and three-star forward Noah Batchelor join the program.
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