Maryland basketball will stay close to home for its first game of the Buzz Williams era. The Terps will play in Baltimore for the first time in seven years, against Coppin State, the school announced on Wednesday.
The Terps will open the 2025-26 season on Nov. 3 at CFG Bank Arena, taking on Coppin State as part of the Naismith Hall of Fame Series doubleheader, which also features Towson and Loyola. It’ll be Maryland’s first appearance in Baltimore since 2018, the first time the Terps and Eagles have met anywhere other than College Park and their first game under the first-year head coach.
“The Hall of Fame Series will be a tremendous way to open the upcoming season, and it is going to be special for the passionate basketball fans of Baltimore,” Williams said in a release. “I believe the last time the University of Maryland Men’s Basketball team played in Baltimore was 2018, so it will be a good opportunity to get the Terps back in a city with such great basketball history.”
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Williams takes over a program coming off a 27-9 season and a Sweet Sixteen appearance — its first since 2016 — with hopes of building on that momentum and reestablishing the Terps among the national elite. Williams has added 10 players to Maryland’s roster and is looking to add another major addition this week in top-30 forward Sebastian Wilkins.
The matchup is one-sided on paper, but it comes with some connections. Former Maryland legend Juan Dixon served as Coppin’s head coach from 2017 to 2023, while longtime Terps assistant and former walk-on John Auslander joined Stewart’s staff last offseason. Coppin head coach Larry Stewart, a Baltimore native and former Eagles star, led Coppin to a win over Maryland back in 1989 during his playing days, the only time the Eagles have ever knocked off the Terps and the only time they’ve made the NCAA Tournament; as a 15-seed, they were blown out by a Derrick Coleman-led No. 2 Syracuse team.
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He later signed as undrafted free agent with the Washington Bullets in 1991 and became the first undrafted player in NBA history to make an All-NBA Rookie Team (2nd).
“Returning to Baltimore for a second year demonstrates the growing excitement around the Hall of Fame Series and the region’s passion for college basketball,” Melissa Meacham-Grossman, President of Position Sports said in the release. “With Maryland headlining alongside respected local programs like Coppin State, Towson, and Loyola, this event highlights the incredible basketball tradition in and around Baltimore. It’s an honor to partner with the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame to bring these matchups back to the world-class CFG Bank Arena.”
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