The Big Ten has revealed all of its conference games for the upcoming men's basketball season, including those for Buzz Williams and the Maryland Terrapins.
The Terps are coming off their worst season since joining the Big Ten, but as with many college programs, they sport a vastly different roster than last year. With a healthy Pharrel Payne returning for a fifth year and six transfers plus five-star Baba Oladotun arriving as reinforcements, there is genuine hope for a return to postseason glory in Prince George's County.
Their first test of conference action will take place in Columbus, with a showdown against the Ohio State Buckeyes set for December 6. Three days later, the Terps will have their second Big Ten game, this time at home against Michigan State.
This matchup has some immediate intrigue: Spartans' head coach Tom Izzo allegedly made some demeaning comments about the state of the Terrapins' program to then-freshman Cam Ward, who is a Maryland native. Even on a weeknight during finals' week, Terps' students should be giving the long-tenured MSU coach an earful for the remarks.
Once conference play begins in earnest, Maryland has UCLA and USC back-to-back at home to get the new year started. They'll then head to Iowa, followed by Indiana.
But the biggest game on the calendar is without a doubt the Hoosiers' return trip to College Park on Saturday, February 13. The Terrapins are commemorating the 25th Anniversary of their 2001-02 National Championship season, where they defeated Indiana 62-54 to secure the program's first title.
And with Maryland having been an ACC member at the time, it now has the special privilege of being able to dunk on a current conference foe during what should be the main day of celebration.
Here is what the entire Big Ten schedule looks like:
- Sunday, December 6 at Ohio State
- Wednesday, December 9 vs. Michigan State
- Saturday, January 2 vs UCLA
- Tuesday, January 5 vs USC
- Saturday, January 9 at Iowa
- Tuesday, January 12 at Indiana
- Saturday, January 16 vs. Illinois
- Tuesday, January 19 vs. Rutgers
- Saturday, January 23 at Purdue
- Tuesday, January 26 vs. Wisconsin
- Saturday, January 30 at Penn State
- Tuesday, February 2 at Michigan State
- Tuesday, February 9 vs. Nebraska
- Saturday, February 13 vs. Indiana
- Wednesday, February 17 at Oregon
- Saturday, February 20 at Washington
- Wednesday, February 24 vs Minnesota
- Sunday, February 28 at Rutgers
- Thursday, March 4 at Michigan
- Sunday, March 7 vs. Northwestern
As shown above, the Terps will also face Michigan State and Rutgers twice as part of the conference schedule. They'll face a difficult stretch to close out the regular season, with a west coast road trip and four of six overall away from the Xfinity Center, including against the defending National Champs in Ann Arbor.
According to the Big Ten's press release, this year's schedule was designed with the use of Fastbreak AI with the goal to "support competitive fairness, optimize travel, support broadcast objectives, and manage the increasing complexity of modern collegiate athletics scheduling." You can be the judge on whether or not the Terps got a balanced lineup of opponents.
Maryland previously released their entire non-conference slate, which features seven games at home, two more in the DMV, and the remaining three in a neutral site tournament:
- Monday, November 2 vs. Bucknell
- Saturday, November 7 at Georgetown
- Friday, November 13 vs. Virginia
- Monday, November 16 vs. Alcorn State
- Friday, November 20 vs. Wagner
- Tuesday, November 24 vs. Tennessee*
- Thursday, November 26 vs. Iowa StateorSan Diego State*
- Friday, November 27 vs. TBA*
- Wednesday, December 2 vs. American
- Tuesday, December 15 vs. Morgan State
- Saturday, December 19 vs. South Carolina^
- Tuesday, December 29 vs. Radford
*at Players Era Festival in Las Vegas
^at CFG Bank Arena in Baltimore
All told, there should be no shortage of resume building opportunities. Maryland will play at least nine games against teams that finished in the final AP Top 25 rankings – including eight against members of the Top 15.
We'll have more coverage of Buzz and the Terps as we get closer to the season. Maryland will play one exhibition game on Sunday, October 18 against West Virginia.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/maryland as Maryland Men's Basketball Reveals 2026-27 Conference Schedule.