Takeaways from Maryland men’s basketball’s season-opening 96-67 win over Bucknell

Maryland men’s basketball had a difficult time getting off the starting line in its season opener against Bucknell, ceding the lead on two occasions. But after launching a 21-5 run to close out the first half, the Terps never took their feet off the gas.

Maryland overcame a sloppy start and took control in the second half of Monday night’s contest to cruise to a 96-67 victory over the Bison. Returning guard Andre Mills led the way with 22 points as the leader of five different Terps who scored in the double digits.

The win didn’t come without its issues, however, as Maryland struggled to shoot accurately from the 3-point and free-throw lines.

Here are three takeaways from the first win of the Terps’ 2026-27 campaign.

Bench talent was on full display

Talk of Maryland’s improved depth heading into this season was one of the biggest reasons why many critics predicted the team would take one of the largest jumps in the nation. The bench proved those predictions right against Bucknell, combining for 35 crucial points.

The biggest contributor off the bench was undoubtedly freshman guard Kaden House, who contributed 14 points in 18 minutes on 4-of-9 shooting. His breakout performance was highlighted by a monstrous drive and slam eight minutes into the second half that sent the crowd into pandemonium.

Robert Jennings III and Baba Oladotun also scored seven points, albeit with varying levels of efficiency. Jennings made both of his field goal attempts — including a surprising 3-point swish from the wing — while Oladotun struggled to get going in his 16 minutes of playing time, going 25% from the charity stripe and failing to score until 27 minutes into the game.

“Any 17-year-old that’s supposed to be in high school, no matter who the opponent is, who’s playing in his hometown state in game number one, he is going to be sped up,” head coach Buzz Williams said. “We had some 23-year-olds that were sped up.”

The game gave fans a glimpse of 12 of the 15 available Terps, with Maban Jabriel, Alex K’Medehouto and an injured Guillermo Del Pino riding the bench. As Maryland continues to face weaker non-conference opponents in the coming weeks, Williams will iron out which of his players will see minutes during the Big Ten slate.

Speed and second-chance success on offense

Mills made a name for himself late last season with his ability to finish on coast-to-coast plays and slash through opposing defenses. The Terps adopted this playstyle on multiple occasions Monday night, scoring 18 points on fast breaks. This included a beautiful grab-and-go play from Mills at the close of the first half that created momentum heading into the locker room.

The redshirt sophomore also led the way on the glass and corralled an impressive 11 boards during his double-double display. Maryland ended up dwarfing Bucknell in the rebounding battle, 54-22, including 28 offensive rebounds that contributed to the 28 points it recorded off second chances.

Ten Terps grabbed at least a pair of rebounds during the matchup, showing that the team may have absorbed Williams’ penchant for rebounding faster than last season’s squad. 

“I think we’ve rebounded the ball to our standard,” Mills said. “We just gotta get more comfortable with each other in our rotations. I think that everybody kind of knows the right spots and where to be.”

Slow starts may be here to stay

While some expected Maryland’s difficulties in the first half of its exhibition against West Virginia to be a fluke, its performance against the Bison may have raised some additional concerns. The Terps fell behind Bucknell twice in the first half, a surprising occurrence when playing a Patriot League team that went 10-23 last season.

Part of the opening sputters may have been due to excessive substitutions early on. Around the eight-minute mark, Williams opted to bring in three freshmen to entirely replace the starting lineup. This misstep led to an eight-minute period where no Maryland player scored a field goal.

While the Bison only led for a collective 67 seconds and the Terps quickly recovered to jump out to a 14-point halftime lead, the defensive lapses during some mass substitutions were less than ideal. While Williams said he will continue to utilize these “hockey subs” for the next few games, Monday’s combinations couldn’t execute on their heels.

“I do think that there were also too many down backs where we weren’t valuing the ball, we weren’t trying to do the things that we needed to do defensively, and that’s why I subbed those five guys the way that I did,” Williams said. “I think I did that twice. May have done it three times.”