Where Crab Five, 2024-25 Maryland men's basketball team landed in the transfer portal

Ahmed Ghafir
13 hours ago
2 min read

Maryland men’s basketball officially has eight scholarships filled with a pair of high school signees already committed as head coach Buzz Williams restocks a roster with zero returnees in 2025-26. Chance Stephens became the seventh Terp to find a new home and second to stay within the Big Ten after announcing his transfer to Minnesota on Friday morning. With the transfer portal still swirling, we take a look at where players from the 2024-25 team have landed:

Committed

G Ja’Kobi Gillespie: Tennessee

G DeShawn Harris-Smith: Georgetown

G Jahari Long: George Mason

G Malachi Palmer: Villanova

C Braden Pierce: Villanova

G Rodney Rice: USC

G Chance Stephens: Minnesota

No decision

F Tafara Gapare: TBD

G Jay Young: TBD

F Julian Reese: TBD

Chance Stephens was the last scholarship player to depart from the program after attempting to stick on Buzz’s roster, but he materialized into the second player from last year’s team to stay within the Big Ten. Stephens, a 6-foot-3 guard who began his college career at Loyola Marymount, will spend his final two seasons of eligibility with the Gophers as Minnesota and first-year head coach Niko Medved will host Maryland in the lone matchup in 2025-26. Stephens joins Rodney Rice as Terps within the Big Ten, with Maryland also slated to travel to Los Angeles to face the Trojans in 2025-26.

Stephens and Rice won’t be the only Terps on next year’s schedule with DeShawn Harris-Smith headed to play AAA ball with Georgetown and Maryland set to begin a four-year series with the first matchup at the Xfinity Center this fall. Palmer and Pierce, meanwhile, will look to develop into rotational pieces at Villanova while Ja’Kobi Gillespie made his dreams of returning home a reality after signing with in-state Tennessee, following through on a possibility that extended through Maryland’s Big Ten regular season run. Meanwhile, Jahari Long reunites with former Maryland assistant – and head coaching candidate – Tony Skinn in his last season of eligibility.

As for Gapare, the former UMass and Georgia Tech transfer was initially viewed as likely to rejoin several familiar faces at Villanova before the Wildcats’ roster efforts ended, while Young could transfer down to play a more significant role in his seventh and final season of eligibility. Reese entered the transfer portal as part of the wave of seniors awaiting a final decision on whether a fifth season of eligibility will be granted for college athletes, though the Baltimore native is preparing for his professional career despite not being invited to either the NBA or G-League Scouting Combine.

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