Maryland men’s basketball closed out its nonconference slate Sunday with a 73-58 win over Old Dominion at Xfinity Center.
The first half was the Terps’ best of the season, culminating in a 45-18 halftime lead. The second half left much more to be desired.
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Next up for Maryland is its return to Big Ten play Friday, at home against Oregon.
Here are three takeaways from Sunday night.
Maryland overhauled its gameplan, and it worked
The brand of basketball known as “Buzz Ball” centers around the frontcourt. But the star big man — Pharrel Payne — is hurt. Maryland’s loss to Virginia made it clear that changes were needed.
The Terps completely abandoned their previous gameplan — one centered on paint dominance and guards creating shots on-ball — in favor of a pass-heavy, five-out look.
That change was shocking for anyone familiar with head coach Buzz Williams’ longtime philosophy. But perhaps more shocking was how well it worked, immediately.
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Diggy Coit returned to the bench and only played 11 minutes in the first half. That left the Terps without a true point guard, but it gave them much-needed size — which paid strong dividends on defense and let them be aggressive in crashing offensive boards.
Very little scoring burden was placed on Solomon Washington and Elijah Saunders, the remaining frontcourt starters. Maryland leaned into the five-out spacing, with 19 of 31 first-half attempts coming from beyond the arc. Just three of those 3-point tries were from Washington and Saunders.
Maryland flung the ball around the gym in a way it hasn’t all season. 12 of 14 first-half makes were assisted — the Terps hadn’t eclipsed 12 assists in an entire game in over a month.
The trio of Darius Adams, Isaiah Watts and Andre Mills scored 39 points and shot 10-of-14 from deep in the first half. That’s an extremely promising sign for a team that’s relied primarily on Coit for backcourt scoring.
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Eight total turnovers after averaging 16.3 over their previous three games doesn’t hurt, either.
Isaiah Watts and Andre Mills were unstoppable in the first half and nonexistent in the second
Of players Maryland fans could expect to take over a game, the pair of rotational guards were not high on the list. Mills had regressed after a strong stretch to open the year, and Sunday was Watts’ first start as a Terp.
But the pair were Maryland’s two best players in the first half against Old Dominion. As long as Payne is on the bench and Williams leans into smaller basketball, Mills and Watts producing may be vital for any type of success.
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Each guard was a defensive menace in the first half. Their size and aggressiveness were vital against the Monarchs’ four-guard lineup — Watts had two first-half blocks and Mills had two first-half steals. Old Dominion shot just 7-of-25 in the first half, in large part due to the duo.
Watts flashed the shooting ability that made him a portal target, finishing the first half 6-of-7 from the field and 4-of-5 from deep. Three of those 3-pointers came in just 64 seconds late in the first half, including a well-contested catch-and-shoot while fading away from the basket.
Mills’ value wasn’t as scoring-heavy, although he did notch 11 points in the first half. The redshirt freshman became the Terps top playmaker without a true point guard. Mills dished out four assists in the opening seven minutes — the team around him had just one in the same stretch.
Their first-half contributions were indispensable in building Maryland’s 45-18 halftime lead. When they fizzled away in the second half, the Terps returned to looking like a team fighting to stay above .500.
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The duo combined to shoot 0-of-5 with just one rebound and one assist in the closing 20 minutes. Washington was Maryland’s leading second-half scorer with just nine points. Coit didn’t score a point all game.
In turn, Old Dominion cut the Terps’ 25-point halftime lead into a 12-point one with two minutes remaining.
Maryland does not want to be in a position where Watts and Mills are forced to be X-factors on a nightly basis. But that may be the spot it finds itself in right now.
Maryland’s nonconference slate is over. Where does it stand?
Williams made an unusual admission in October at Maryland’s preseason media day: that his squad would “probably lose a game or two before Christmas that [they] shouldn’t.” A big reason for that was the innate lack of chemistry on a team with 15 new players.
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The flip side of Williams’ statement was that the Terps would “probably win a game or two after Valentine’s Day that [they] shouldn’t.”
The first half of the coach’s prediction held true. And to Williams’ credit, the building blocks appear to be in place for making good on the second half of it.
Maryland’s last two-and-a-half games came without its best player. Payne should be back sooner rather than later, though — Big Ten Network’s broadcast Sunday showed the center shooting and moving well pregame.
If Williams wants to pull off some Big Ten upsets, his squad can’t be as one-dimensional as it was in nonconference play. Fortunately for the Terps, Sunday’s gameplan experimentation showed there’s a way to do that.
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Coit is an incredible scoring talent. But at the end of the day, he’s generously listed as 5-foot-11. The graduate guard simply isn’t built to hold up as the No. 2 option for 25-plus minutes a game against the Big Ten.
Adams and Watts have shown flashes of microwave scoring. Mills showed against Old Dominion that he can facilitate. All three possess Big Ten size and are tenacious defenders.
2025-26 was always going to be a transition year for Maryland. Injuries have turned the season into an even tougher project than anticipated. But the vision for turning it around is there.
