Maryland Basketball: 2022-23 season preview and outlook for Terrapins
By Karl Heiser
Schedule Outlook
Maryland Basketball opens the non-conference schedule with three home matchups against teams that should provide little resistance in Niagra, Western Carolina, and Binghamton. They will then travel to Connecticut for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off to match up against a dangerous Saint Louis team. Depending on the result, they will play either Miami (FL) or Providence in the second game of that event.
Returning home, Maryland will face off against former Terp Juan Dixon’s Coppin State side. A rematch from the 2021 Baha Mar Hoops Bahamas Championship looms in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge as UMD looks to avenge last year’s loss to Louisville.
The two biggest tests on Maryland’s non-conference schedule come within three days of each other in December. First, they head to a neutral site to go up against preseason top-15 team Tennessee. The Terps then come home to meet a top-10 UCLA side at Xfinity Center, essentially previewing a new era as the Bruins stand to join the Big Ten in the near future. Maryland will close 2022 with home games against two former NCAA Tournament darlings in Saint Peter’s and UMBC.
Willard’s first non-conference slate with Maryland is some relatively easy games punctuated by matchups versus top-30 teams. The Terrapins will have some good tests ahead of conference play in a Big Ten that feels more wide open than it has in a while.
Maryland’s most difficult conference games will come right away. Over the first six Big Ten contests, they play Michigan twice and also travel to tough road environments in Rutgers, Iowa, and Purdue. The schedule gradually lightens up, especially towards the end as they face Nebraska, Minnesota, and Northwestern in a three-game stretch. With the beginning of the conference slate being so challenging, Maryland must open strong to avoid playing catch-up for the remainder of the season.