Maryland Drops First Big Ten Matchup Against Iowa
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The Maryland Terrapins dropped their first Big Ten matchup of the 2025 season, falling at Iowa 83-64 Saturday afternoon.
The Terps (6-4, 0-1 Big Ten) fell behind early in the first half as the Hawkeyes (8-1, 1-1 Big Ten) came out of the gate scorching from the three-point line, shooting 8-of-9, taking a 39-26 lead at the 4:37 mark.
Pharrel Payne was the Terps' most productive player of the night, securing back-to-back games with a double-double (17 points & 14 rebounds, 9-of-18 ft). The 14 rebounds were a new career-high for Payne. Payne also continues his streak of finishing each game he's played in this season (9), scoring in double figures.
2 straight games with a double-double for Pharrel with 13 points and 10 rebounds 💪
— Maryland Men’s Basketball (@TerrapinHoops) December 6, 2025
It is the 11th of his career pic.twitter.com/NeT4WymKpq
Maryland trailed 44-30 at halftime.
Iowa opened up the second half on a 12-2 run that expanded their lead to 56-32 after an official TV timeout at the 15:11 mark. Maryland would never recover, unable to cut the lead from double-digits the rest of the way.
Bennett Stirtz led Iowa and all players with 25 points on 10-of-17 shooting from the field and 4-of-8 from behind the arc.
Andre Mills (11 points) and David Coit (13 points, 3-of-6 from three) were the only other Terps' double-figure scorers. Solomon Washington, in his second game back from injury, nearly had a double-double with eight points and nine rebounds.
The Maryland offense struggled today, shooting below 40% from the field & three-point line, and only hitting half of its free throws. The turnover also led to easy transition buckets for Iowa. This has been a trend in the Terps' losses this season, and one that Head Coach Buzz Williams has called out in his pressers: that his group must clean up to compete better.
This new Terps team has had its ups and downs so far, struggling to find consistent play due to the overhaul of new players and injuries at the start of the season that have forced players to miss time and then required them to be integrated into the game plan upon return. The team still can't be judged too early on in the season, as they are still trying to establish an identity and will continue to learn from these tough matchups against some of the top teams in the country.
Key Team Stats
- Iowa shot 54% from the field (34-of-63) and 41% from three (9-of-22).
- Maryland went to the free-throw line 38 times compared to 12 attempts for Iowa.
- The Terps outrebounded the Hawkeyes 39-32.
- Iowa scored 21 points off 18 Maryland turnovers.
- Iowa outscored Maryland 44-20 in the paint.
Up Next:
Maryland hosts the undefeated No. 3 Michigan Wolverines at Xfinity Center next Saturday at 8 p.m.
Jaden's sports journalism career began at the College of Southern Maryland from 2022-2023, where he was brought in to cover baseball, softball, basketball, soccer, and volleyball at CSM. In late 2023, he began interning at the University of Maryland Athletics Department as a contributing writer to help develop feature stories and game recaps. He also creates his own sports media content on professional Washington teams with LegacyMaker Sports Network.