Things went mainly as expected for Maryland men’s basketball in its season-opener, rolling to a 68-53 win over Mount St. Mary’s and a 1-0 record.
The Terps will get tested right away with the start of the Asheville Championship, a four-team MTE beginning Friday in North Carolina. Maryland will get Davidson in the tournament semifinal, and it will play either UAB or Clemson on Sunday in the final or the third place game, depending on Friday’s result.
This is the Terps’ second straight year playing in a four-team MTE after last year’s Hall of Fame Tip Off in Uncasville, Connecticut. Maryland went into the tournament with a 3-0 record, and the results emphatically marked the arrival of Kevin Willard in College Park. Maryland crushed Saint Louis, 95-67, in the semifinal, then crushed eventual Final Four team Miami, 88-70, in the championship.
Maryland enters this season with more expectations than last, so a great weekend likely will not be perception-changing. However, it gives the Terps a couple of strong neutral-court opportunities and an opportunity to gel ahead of a road matchup at Villanova on Nov. 17.
Here’s what you need to know about how to watch, follow and listen to Friday’s game.
Tip: 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 10 at the Harrah’s Cherokee Center in Asheville, North Carolina
TV: ESPNU – Mark Neely (play-by-play), Chris Spatola (analyst)
Radio: Maryland Sports Network: One Maryland App, WJZ-FM 105.7 (Baltimore), The TEAM 980 AM (D.C.), Sirius XM Channel 385 – Brendan Hartlove (play-by-play), Chris Knoche (analyst), Sean Brandt (engineer)
Live Stats: Link
Betting Line: Maryland -10.5, O/U 136.5 (DraftKings Sportsbook)
KenPom.com favors the Terps by 11 points (75-64), BartTorvik.com favors Maryland by 13.6 points (77-63) and ESPN BPI gives Maryland an 83.9% chance to win.
Davidson is also 1-0 after beating Division III opponent Washington and Lee, 86-63, Monday night. Villanova transfer Angelo Brizzi led five Wildcats in double figures with 15 points. Six-foot-10 forward David Skogman and three-star freshman forward Bobby Durkin each had 13 points and guard Grant Huffman had 12 points. While the competition does not reveal too much about the Wildcats’ strengths and weaknesses, they took 36 threes – making 10 – in contrast to 31 two-point attempts.
Led by second-year head coach Matt McKillop, who took over for his legendary father Bob McKillop, Davidson went 16-16 last season. Ahead of this year, the Wildcats lost their top two players – Foster Loyer and Sam Mennenga – both of whom were key cogs in their 27-7, Atlantic 10 champion 2021-22 squad.
On the Maryland side of things, Tuesday marked the exciting debut for freshmen DeShawn Harris-Smith and Jamie Kaiser. Harris-Smith finished with 12 points on 4 of 6 shooting, four rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block. He also had a +22 rating in 27:38 of game time and was named KenPom game MVP. Kaiser played just 14:20 of game time, but he scored two of his four shots, including a 3-pointer from the corner.
Junior big Julian Reese was the Terps’ top scorer Tuesday night, leading all players with 18 points (8 of 11 shooting) and eight rebounds.
Maryland’s 3-point shooting was an issue last year, and it was not great Tuesday against Mount St. Mary’s. The Terps made just 3 of 16 3-pointers (18.8%) to open the season. Kaiser should help in that regard throughout the season, though the Terps will need to find more consistency in that area.
In the all-time series between Maryland and Davidson, the Terps lead 8-3. Friday will mark their first meeting since the first round of the 2007 NCAA Tournament. The Terps survived a dominant 30-point showing from a young Steph Curry a season before the Wildcats went to the Elite Eight.