Maryland Women's Basketball vs. Murray State Preview

The conference tournaments are over now. For the Maryland Terrapins women's basketball team, it means their little break is over, and now it's time to start the 2026 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament, or "March Madness," in full swing.

The 3rd-seeded Terps (23-8) face off against the No. 12-seeded Murray State Racers (31-3) on Friday at Carmichael Arena in Chapel Hill, NC, with tipoff starting at 3 p.m.

Murray State is coming off a great 2025-26 season, where they defeated Indiana State, Northern Iowa, and Evansville en route to becoming Missouri Valley Conference Champions. On top of that, the Racers went 19-1 in the conference and 14-0 at home during the season.

The Terps finished the regular season as one of the hottest teams in the nation, going 6-1 in February, including two ranked wins against Michigan State & Ohio State, heading into the Big Ten Conference tournament. However, Oregon got the best of Maryland in the second round of the Big Ten tournament with a close 73-68 finish.

Let's dive into this matchup....

How to Watch

Date: Friday, March 20th, 2026

Where: Carmichael Arena at Chapel Hill, NC

Tipoff: 3: 00 p.m.

TV: ESPN U

Radio: Maryland Sports Network

Murray State Key Team Stats

Record: 31-3 (19-1 Missouri Valley)

Head Coach: Rechelle Turner

Leading Scorer: Halli Poock- 22.4 points per game (10th in the country)

Leading Rebounder: Sharnecce Currie-Jelks - 11.8 rebounds per game (8.6 DRPG & 3.2 ORPG) & (8th in the country)

Leader in Assists: Halli Poock- 4.4 assists per game

Team Points: 86. 1 points per contest (5th nationally)

Team Rebounds Per Game: 41.1 rebounds per contest (28th nationally)

Team Free Throw %: 79.9% (6th nationally)

Team Three Pointer Made: 8.4 three-pointers per contest (34th nationally)

Players To Watch

Murray State Guard Halli Poock

Poock is at the helm of the Runners' offense; she's a dynamic scorer who can take the ball downhill, attack the rim, shoot well off the screen, and shoot from behind the arc at 34.8%.

Maryland Forward Saylor Poffenbarger

Poffenbarger is the Terps most important piece to me on the team. She's the do-it-all player who scores, rebounds, distributes to her teammates, and brings the energy on the defensive end as well. Poffenbarger has been held to single digits in the past three contests. The Terps need to get her more involved and set her up with mismatches so she can use her size to face up and score around the basket.

History vs. Murray State

This marks the first-ever meeting between the two teams in program history.

Final Verdict:

Despite Murray State's Missouri Valley Conference, which may not be on par with other conferences, the Racers pose a huge threat to the Terps, so they cannot underestimate this well-coached team. Four Murray State players average double-digits per night and provide a diverse scoring attack.