Maryland males’s basketball at No. 23 Virginia preview

[ad_1] Maryland males’s basketball gave No. 2 Michigan all it may muster Saturday evening. However an in-game harm and ejection, coupled with two rotation items being dominated out previous to tip, harm the Terps’ possibilities. Maryland finally fell to the Wolverines, 101-83.

Now, after every week’s price of relaxation, the Terps will face one other ranked opponent — this time away from house — in No. 23 Virginia.

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The Cavaliers have been largely dominant this season, profitable all however one sport — an 80-73 loss to Butler taints their resume. However Virginia has wins over high-major opponents, together with an 83-78 victory over Northwestern and a 88-69 thrashing of Texas.

Saturday’s sport will start at 6 p.m. and air on ESPN.

Virginia Cavaliers (9-1, 0-0 ACC) 2024-25 report: 15-17, 8-12 ACC

Ryan Odom is in his first 12 months as head coach of this system after spending the final two seasons on the helm of VCU. Throughout his tenure with the Rams, Odom’s squad went 52-21 and made an NCAA Event look in 2025.

Odom has loads of expertise on the head teaching degree, together with stints at Utah State, UMBC, Lenoir Rhyne and Charlotte. At UMBC, his group notably turned the first-ever No. 16-seed within the NCAA Event to knock off a No. 1-seed — curiously sufficient, that No. 1-seed was Virginia.

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Gamers to look at Thijs De Ridder, freshman ahead, 6-foot-9, No. 28 — De Ridder is a freshman at 22 years previous, and that’s as a result of he’s spent the previous couple of years enjoying in Europe. From 2023-25, De Ridder performed for Bilbao Basket of Liga ACB, and in 2024-25, he averaged 9.3 factors and 4.8 rebounds per sport. Now, he’s main the Cavaliers with 16.1 factors and 6 rebounds per sport whereas capturing 42.3% from downtown.

Malik Thomas, graduate pupil guard, 6-foot-5, No. 1 — Thomas ranks second on the group with 11.8 factors per sport regardless of capturing simply 41.3% from the sector. Thomas beforehand performed at each USC and San Francisco. On the latter program in 2024-25, he was named All-WCC first group and averaged 19.9 factors per sport.

Likelihood Mallory, freshman guard, 5-foot-10, No. 2 — Regardless of his small stature, Mallory packs a punch. He’s averaging 11.7 factors per sport and has the second-most assists on the group by way of the primary 10 video games (33). Mallory is the group’s sixth man, having come off the bench in each sport thus far. He additionally has 22 steals this season — no person else on the squad even has 10.

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Energy Three-point capturing. The Cavaliers are prolific from past the arc, capturing a conference-best 40% from deep vary. They’re tenth within the convention in try price, however have performed fewer video games than every of the groups forward of them. Virginia has seven gamers capturing at the least 40% from three.

Weak spot Free throw capturing. There’s not a lot that Virginia does poorly in relation to the remainder of its convention, nevertheless it does rank bottom-five within the ACC in free throw proportion at 69.2%. With De Ridder capturing simply 64% from the stripe, the Terps may power him to hit his pictures from that mark.

Three issues to look at 1. Payne’s standing. Pharrel Payne was rolled up on within the first half of Saturday’s sport in opposition to Michigan, and didn't see the ground for the rest of motion. He was noticed on the bench within the second half, and briefly had a big wrapping round his knee. Whereas it’s unlikely that he’ll go well with up Saturday, will probably be fascinating to see if he's strolling round much less gingerly.

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2. Turkson time? In his first sport again from harm, George Turkson Jr. began and performed 32 minutes in opposition to Michigan. He scored a season-high eight factors and helped contribute on protection in opposition to some bigger inside gamers. Will probably be price noting whether or not he continues to see the courtroom early and sometimes.

3. Will the Terps be Diggy-reliant? Towards Michigan, Diggy Coit was Maryland’s important supply of offense — he and Myles Rice have been the one Terps to attain within the double digits, and Coit notched 31. As a way to keep aggressive in opposition to Virginia, Maryland will want to have the ability to get substantial contributions from a number of gamers, although Coit may prepared the ground once more.