Maryland women’s basketball knee injury nightmare got worse Friday morning after Bri McDaniel announced on X that she won’t return to the court this season.
McDaniel tore her ACL in a January 2025 game against Minnesota, and as recently as yesterday, the team seemed to expect her back this season.
“Bri hasn’t been released from the doctor,” head coach Brenda Frese said Thursday morning. “She’s slowly building up to contact drills, but in the half court. That’s a day-to-day, week-to-week thing.”
McDaniel’s
decision to sit the rest of the year will allow her to take a medical redshirt and play her entire senior season in 2026-27.
“Being a Terp means so much to me that I want to give you 100%,” McDaniel wrote in her statement. “Rehab has been progressing, but I am not where I need to be.”
The announcement means the Terps officially will have four guards sidelined for the rest of the season with knee injuries: Lea Bartelme, Kaylene Smikle, Ava McKennie and McDaniel.
That leaves the Terps with just three available traditional guards. Oluchi Okananwa and Addi Mack have been terrific in their first seasons at Maryland. Rainey Welson is also available off the bench, but she is still nursing a lower leg injury herself.
McDaniel and Smikle have proved themselves as two of the best guards in the Big Ten, while Bartelme’s freshman season was off to a great start before her injury.
It will be an uphill battle for the Terps the rest of the season with their offensive options majorly depleted.
