Maryland mens basketball schedule 2020-21

The Maryland men’s basketball team will begin its season Nov. 25 against Old Dominion, the school announced Monday. The Terrapins’ 2020-21 campaign will start without fans in attendance, but the university is hopeful that some spectators may be permitted at Xfinity Center as the season progresses.

Maryland will play a seven-game nonconference schedule during the 2020-21 season, which has a delayed start but will go on mostly as planned despite cases of the novel coronavirus spiking throughout the country.

The Big Ten released conference schedules Wednesday, and the Terps will begin their conference slate Dec. 14 at home against Rutgers. The Big Ten will have four matchups on Christmas Day, including Maryland at Purdue.

In conference play, the Terrapins will play Wisconsin, Rutgers, Michigan, Purdue, Minnesota, Penn State and Nebraska twice. Maryland faces the other Big Ten teams only once — Iowa, Michigan State and Ohio State at home, as well as Illinois, Indiana and Northwestern on the road.

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Maryland will travel to face Clemson on Dec. 9 in the annual ACC-Big Ten Challenge. As part of a multi-team event next week in College Park, the Terps will face Navy and Mount St. Mary’s. Games against George Mason, La Salle and Monmouth fill out the rest of the team’s nonconference slate.

The Terps have a strong group of returners, including Darryl Morsell, Aaron Wiggins, Eric Ayala and Donta Scott. But the team will also have to rely on newcomers, such as forwards Galin Smith and Jairus Hamilton, who both transferred to Maryland in the offseason.

The Terps won a share of the Big Ten regular season title last season and were projected to earn a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament, which was canceled because of the pandemic. After last season, Maryland lost senior point guard Anthony Cowan Jr. and sophomore forward Jalen Smith, the top two scorers on the 2019-20 team.

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Maryland begins this season ranked No. 51 nationally and No. 11 in the Big Ten in Ken Pomeroy’s analytics-based ratings. In the preseason AP poll, seven Big Ten teams were ranked: No. 5 Iowa, No. 7 Wisconsin, No. 8 Illinois, No. 13 Michigan State, No. 23 Ohio State, No. 24 Rutgers and No. 25 Michigan.

Based on these early rankings, Maryland’s conference schedule is somewhat favorable. The Terps will only play the conference’s top four teams a combined five times.

Maryland men’s basketball schedule

Nov. 25: Old Dominion

Nov. 27: Navy

Nov. 29: Mount St. Mary’s

Dec. 1: Monmouth

Dec 4: George Mason

Dec. 9: at Clemson (ACC-Big Ten Challenge)

Dec. 14: Rutgers

Dec. 22: La Salle

Dec. 25: at Purdue

Dec. 28: at Wisconsin

Dec. 31: Michigan

Jan. 4: at Indiana

Jan. 7: Iowa

Jan. 10: at Illinois

Jan. 16: Nebraska

Jan. 19: at Michigan

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Jan. 23: at Minnesota

Jan. 30: Wisconsin

Feb. 2: Purdue

Feb. 5/6: at Penn State

Feb. 8/9: Ohio State

Feb. 14: Minnesota

Feb. 17: at Nebraska

Feb. 21: at Rutgers

Feb. 28: Michigan State

March 3: at Northwestern

March 7: Penn State

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