Maryland Men's Basketball Draws Tennessee as First Players Era Opponent
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Head coach Buzz Williams and the Maryland Terrapins have learned one of their non-conference opponents for the fall, and it may very well be an early member of the AP Top 25.
The Las Vegas based Players Era Festival has released brackets for both the eight- and 16-team brackets, and Maryland's first opponent in the larger event will be an SEC powerhouse: Rick Barnes and the Tennessee Volunteers.
The Players Era 16 bracket is HERE ‼️
— Players Era (@Players_Era) May 21, 2026
🗓️ November 24-28
📍 Las Vegas, NV pic.twitter.com/4mobcj9JeK
The winner of that contest will go on to face either Iowa State or San Diego State.
The Vols were ranked No. 12 in the final AP Poll of last season. They finished the regular season 21-10 (11-7) and advanced to the Elite Eight for the third straight year before being defeated by Michigan, the eventual National Champions.
Like Maryland, Tennessee had a very active transfer portal period. Six players departed the program - including Terps' addition Bishop Boswell, who will now have a chance to play his former squad - while eight new faces joined from other teams.
The Vols are once again losing their leading scorer, this time Tennessee local and former Maryland starter Ja'Kobi Gillespie. He looks to be the third straight prospect to turn a one-year layover in Knoxville into an NBA Draft selection, joining Chaz Lanier and Dalton Knecht.
Unlike previous years, they are also losing their second-leading scorer, forward Nate Ament, as a one-and-done. That means they'll be relying heavily on Juke Harris (21.4 PPG with Wake Forest), Jalen Haralson (16.2 PPG with Notre Dame), and others to pick up where they left off.
The Terps meanwhile will bring in six transfers, as well as five-star Baba Oladotun and three other freshmen, to shake things up in Buzz's second season at the helm. Center Pharrel Payne and guard Andre Mills are the only remaining starters from last season.
Tennessee leads the head-to-head series 3-2 thanks to a 56-53 victory at the Barclays Center in 2022. This will be their fifth straight meeting on neutral ground; the sole exception was a Vols home game all the way back in 1949.
Maryland will play at least three games in their return to the Vegas tournament; the two teams who win three in a row will move on to a special Championship event. All games will be broadcast on ESPN and its affiliated networks.
Last year, they defeated UNLV in their first game of the Festival before falling to No. 12 Gonzaga and No. 8 Alabama.
The Terps have two other official non-conference matchups set: a trip to Georgetown, which does yet have a date set, and a home game against old ACC rival Virginia. Both are the second game in respective four-year agreements.
The Big Ten also revealed conference matchups for the upcoming season, with Maryland drawing Indiana, Michigan State, and Rutgers as two-time opponents.
We'll provide more updates on the upcoming season of Terrapins basketball as additional games and dates are announced.
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Mike joined Maryland On SI with over four years of sportswriting experience. He started off his career in Syracuse on the Orange football beat, where he was featured on CBS Sports' Cover 3 Podcast and local ESPN sports talk radio. After that, he had a brief stint reporting on Major League Baseball before returning to college sports.
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