Even if the on-court product will look vastly different than it did last season, Maryland men’s basketball is back. The Terps travel to Baltimore for a Monday night matchup with Coppin State, as part of the Naismith Hall of Fame Series, to open their year.
Much has been made of how head coach Buzz Williams’ first team in College Park — one with 10 transfers and five freshmen — will fare. The initial answers to that question will emerge Monday, even if the Eagles are hardly a competitive opponent.
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Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at CFG Bank Arena. The game will air on Big Ten Network.
Coppin State Eagles (0-0)
2024-25 record: 6-24, 4-10 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
Third-year head coach Larry Stewart finds himself in a very similar situation to Williams. 14 of the 17 members of his roster are new this season.
The difference between the dilemmas, however, is Stewart’s talent pool is lacking. Two of his new players are freshmen, four enter from junior college, three transfer from Division I schools and the rest come from Division II or NAIA schools.
And it’s not like last year’s product was anything to build on. Coppin State finished second-to-last in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference last year. Of 364 Division I schools, the Eagles were 361st in KenPom rating in 2024-25.
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Not much is known about this year’s Coppin State team, but on paper, the ceiling certainly isn’t high.
Players to know
Khali Horton, junior forward, 6-foot-8, No. 7 — Horton is one of just two returners who played last season, and was little more than an average starter. Over his 29 games and 23 starts in 2024-25, the Pennsylvania native averaged 7.9 points and 2.4 rebounds in 23.4 minutes per game, but he did lead the team in total blocks (12).
Camaren Sparrow, junior guard, 6-foot-4, No. 10 — Sparrow is the other player with on-court experience with Stewart. He was a similar caliber of contributor to Horton, playing 30 games and starting 20 with 19.2 minutes per contest. He recorded 4.9 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game in that time.
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Hassan Perkins, senior guard, 6-foot-0, No. 1 — It’s hard to project a transfer class made up mainly of guys with no Division I playing experience. Perkins has the most experience of that group, albeit not much. He comes in from MEAC rival Maryland-Eastern Shore, where he started 10 of 27 games he played in and averaged five points per game in 19.7 minutes per game.
Strength
Age. For all of the Eagles’ shortcomings, they’re not inexperienced in college basketball, whether or not that experience came at a high level. 14 of their 17 rostered players are upperclassmen.
Weakness
Chemistry and talent. Coppin State simply does not have anything close to high-end talent. Its two returners combined for 12.8 points per game in big roles and its highest-touted transfer was a roleplayer for one of the worst teams in Division I.
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And those 14 new players have never shared a court in-game. That’s a bad combination.
Three things to watch
1. Maryland’s health. The Terps are limping into the season opener, literally and figuratively. Solomon Washington is expected to be out with an ankle sprain. Myles Rice was in a boot at the exhibition against UMBC and doesn’t appear likely to go either. Diggy Coit and Isaiah Watts also appeared injured. Williams said Maryland only had eight players practicing for portions of the past week.
Maryland should handle Coppin State regardless, but it’d be good for it to see some faces back before Friday’s matchup with Georgetown.
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2. Trip to Baltimore. Maryland hasn’t played at CFG Bank Arena since December 2018, when it was still called Royal Farms Arena. Monday is a great early-season opportunity to rally fan support in the north half of the state.
3. Family ties. Coppin State’s head coach’s last name may ring a bell for Maryland football fans. Larry Stewart is the uncle of star freshman defensive end Sidney Stewart, also making him a relative of Derik Queen.
