The Terps face their first real test of the 2024-25 season.
Maryland men’s basketball takes on its first ranked opponent of the season Friday, when No. 15 Marquette travels to College Park for the first time in program history.
The teams have met just once before in 2019, when the then-No. 5 Terps took down the Golden Eagles in Orlando, Florida, at the Orlando Championship. Now, the roles are flipped: Marquette is the ranked opponent and Maryland is the unranked challenger. Both teams have new head coaches, and plenty of unknowns exist in the matchup.
Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m. and the game will air on FS1.
Marquette Golden Eagles (3-0, 0-0 Big East)
2023 record: 27-10, 14-6 Big East
Fourth-year head coach Shaka Smart has led Marquette to March Madness berths in each of his first three seasons at the helm. The Golden Eagles were a No. 2-seed in last year’s tournament and made it to the Sweet 16 before falling victim to DJ Burns and No. 11-seed NC State’s Cinderella run.
Marquette lost two of its top three scorers from last season — Tyler Kolek and Oso Ighodaro — to the NBA, but retains plenty of talent and has seen new players jump into leading roles. It utilizes a balanced attack, ranked 35th offensively and 17th defensively by KenPom. Like Maryland, the Golden Eagles have stacked three double-digit wins against lower-level competition.
Players to know
Kam Jones, senior guard, 6-foot-5, No. 1 — Jones is the engine of Marquette’s offense. He’s led the team in scoring each of the last two seasons, and is doing so again in 2024-25 with 22.7 points per game. He’s getting to that mark with a whopping 69.2% field goal percentage, the highest among Big East guards this season.
Jones is also the Golden Eagles’ primary offensive facilitator, leading the team with 6.3 assists per game.
Ben Gold, junior forward, 6-foot-11, No. 12 — Maryland star freshman big man Derik Queen made a stir Wednesday with his comments about Gold’s style of play.
“He just wanna shoot,” Queen said. “He don’t wanna do nothing else.”
The stats back up Queen’s assertion. Gold, who primarily plays center, leads Marquette with seven 3-point attempts per game this year. He’s shooting just 19% on those attempts, and 26.9% overall. The Gold-Queen matchup will be one to watch after Queen gave him some bulletin board material ahead of Friday’s matchup. Gold leads the Golden Eagles with 1.7 blocks per game, the only player with more than one per game.
Chase Ross, junior guard, 6-foot-5, No. 2 — Ross is a force on both ends of the court. He’s an efficient scorer and a versatile weapon on defense.
Ross is averaging 9.3 shots per game, but is tied for second on the team with 15.3 points per game. He’s been lights out from deep, converting 54.5% of his 3-point attempts. And he’s the leader of one of the country’s most aggressive defenses, averaging a team-high 3.3 steals per game.
Strength
Taking the ball away. The Golden Eagles have been prolific in creating extra possessions via steals. They are tied for fourth in the country with 14 steals per game and have scored at least 20 points off turnovers in each of their first three games this season. Maryland is averaging a Big Ten-low 7.3 turnovers per game — look to see which team can capitalize on their strength.
Weakness
3-point shooting. Similar to Maryland, deep shots have not been falling for Marquette this season. Its 29.4% 3-point percentage is the second-lowest in the Big East. But Maryland is shooting 29.3% from deep. Don’t be surprised if both teams struggle from beyond the arc Friday.
Three things to watch
1. Can Maryland compete with top-tier competition? The Terps have three blowouts under their belt, but they have not played a competitive opponent, let alone a ranked one. Marquette presents Maryland’s first true test of the season, and it’s a measuring stick for how well head coach Kevin Willard’s squad will fare against the Big Ten — and potentially where it’ll stand come March.
2. How does Maryland play Marquette’s frontcourt? Marquette only plays one true big man — Gold — more than 15 minutes a game, and Gold’s more of a stretch five, spending a lot of time at the perimeter. That’s an interesting matchup for the Terps, who start Julian Reese and Queen.
Maryland will have to balance maintaining a size advantage and keeping up with Marquette’s fast-paced frontcourt. Speed is far from a strength for either Reese or Queen.
3. Will the fans play a factor? At its best, Xfinity Center is one of the toughest road venues in college’s basketball. Last year, with Maryland in a down year, it didn’t fill up often. It hasn’t come close to capacity yet in 2024-25, as the Terps have taken on three low-level programs.
But on a Friday night, with high expectations surrounding the Terps and a ranked opponent in town, expect a packed house. Maryland fans have made life hard for top competition in the past — look for them to do so against Marquette.