The Terps were aided by a 26-point first-half effort from Rodney Rice.
Rodney Rice played just eight games as a freshman at Virginia Tech in 2022-23, and didn’t play at all last year due to injury. Many expected him to need some time easing into his first season with Maryland men’s basketball.
That wasn’t the case. In his second game with the program, Rice was a machine against Mount St. Mary’s. He got in a zone early and finished 10-of-14 shooting for 28 points in an 86-52 win over the Mountaineers at Xfinity Center.
“[Rodney’s] a great natural scorer, he knows how to score,” head coach Kevin Willard said. “This is the way Rodney’s been playing for two-to-three weeks in practice.”
Rice spearheaded a prolific Maryland shooting performance — a welcome sight for the Terps, who are looking to bounce back after being one of the worst shooting teams in the country last season.
Derik Queen and Julian Reese were a combined 2-for-7 in the first half, meaning the Terps had to rely on their backcourt. And that group rose to the occasion. Ja’Kobi Gillespie was 4-for-7 in the first half, including a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the arc, while Rice was 3-for-5 from 3-point range in the opening 20 minutes.
The team shot 55.6% overall from the field in the first half, and 53.8% from 3. Those numbers dipped in the second half, but Maryland led by 22 at halftime, and so the majority of the second half was garbage time.
The Terps came out the gate sluggish. They looked out of sorts on defense, allowing the Mountaineers to score the game’s first seven points. Selton Miguel, who was 0-for-4 shooting in the season debut, slowed the bleeding with his first bucket of the season.
Maryland struggled with the Mountaineers’ size and physicality at first, getting out-rebounded early on and not finding any success in the paint.
A Mount St. Mary’s 3-pointer extended its lead to 10-2, but Gillespie responded with one of his own. Two consecutive turnovers slowed Maryland’s momentum a touch. Then the onslaught began.
It started with Rice grabbing his own missed 3-pointer and finishing high. Then Queen got wide open down the lane for an easy dunk. The teams traded physical paint shots before a foul on Queen sent him to the line.
Queen converted both free throws. Those points kicked off a 25-3 run that cemented Maryland’s dominance over a Mount St. Mary’s team it remains undefeated against all-time. Aside from a Jay Young 3-pointer, every non-free throw on the run was scored by Gillespie or Rice.
The Mountaineers put Maryland in the bonus relatively early in the half. That meant the Terps were at the line often, and they took advantage of that, making their final 11 free throw attempts of the half.
Up by a ton in the second half, Willard cleared out his bench. Young, redshirt freshman Braden Pierce, redshirt sophomore Chance Stephens and freshman Malachi Palmer — none of whom are in the regular rotation — saw extended second-half minutes, and walk-ons Ben Murphy and Lukas Sotell got in at the end of the night.
Three things to know
1. Has Rice earned a starting role? It’s hard to ignore how well Rice has played off the bench in the first two games. Miguel is starting ahead of him, and is 2-for-9 shooting so far this season. Rice had more assists (two to one) and more rebounds (five to three) than Miguel.
Miguel said before the season a factor in his transfer to Maryland was an opportunity to start. But he’s been outplayed by his counterpart in both games this season. Which of the two guards starts going forward will be something to keep note of.
“This is his third school,” Willard said. “Everyone’s got to take a deep breath and realize it’s going to take him a little bit of time to figure [it] out.”
2. Derik Queen struggled, but may have played through injury. It’s hard to replicate a 20-20 game, but Queen didn’t look like the same player he did in his debut. He was sluggish on defense and in transition, couldn’t separate from defenders on-ball and brought in just one rebound, finishing 3-for-8 for eight points.
But Queen was visibly limping leaving the court, and looked to be favoring one leg during the game. Willard declined to comment on his status after the game.
3. Maryland avoids an early upset. Last season, Maryland lost its second game of the season to Davidson, 64-61. It followed that up with another brutal loss to UAB, 66-63. Those losses destroyed the season’s momentum — the Terps avoided a similar deflation in its second game of the 2024-25 season. That’s a testament to the caliber of play they’ve displayed thus far.