Maryland men’s basketball returned to Xfinity Center on Saturday after losing two straight games on the road. There to meet them was a Washington squad that had lost three of its last four and needed a win just as bad.
Both sides played like it. A gritty, physical 40 minutes ended with the Terps victorious, 64-60, on the back of 21 points from Andre Mills and heroics from Guillermo Del Pino.
Here are three takeaways from the afternoon.
Streaky start gave way to a back-and-forth slugfest
The Terps’ two-game road trip was demoralizing. First, they allowed
Rutgers to secure their first Big Ten regulation win of the season — by 11 points. Then a 39-point masterclass by Mills somehow wasn’t enough in a 78-74 loss to an inferior Northwestern squad.
For the first six minutes of Saturday’s matchup, it looked like that negative momentum had travelled back to Xfinity Center. Maryland put the ball in Darius Adams’ hands early and often — he didn’t deliver. Adams started 1-of-5 from the field, and the squad around him wasn’t any better.
Within six minutes, Washington led by eight points. Washington and Saunders both hit quick buckets to stop the bleeding, but the Huskies still looked hot.
That’s when Buzz Williams rolled out an unorthodox lineup: Mills, Del Pino, Isaiah Watts, George Turkson Jr. and Elijah Saunders. It worked.
Maryland hasn’t gotten much from its bench in Big Ten play. But Del Pino and Watts drilled back-to-back 3-pointers, and all of a sudden, a 15-5 run meant the Terps were in control.
The rest of the game was nothing short of a slugfest. Maryland briefly led by six points late in the first half — that was its largest advantage Saturday. Its four-point lead when the clock hit zeroes was its second-biggest second-half lead. Washington never led by more than five points after the 15-5 run.
Guillermo Del Pino.
Adams was sent to the bench after those opening six minutes. He didn’t return in the first half. Diggy Coit, who’s usually the spark-plug point guard off the bench, only played four first-half minutes. He only scored two points.
Del Pino had seen the court for just 28 minutes in 2026 entering Saturday, and hadn’t scored a point in Big Ten play. But he took on that point guard role for much of the night — playing 27 minutes against the Huskies.
“I thought [Guillermo] was the MVP,” Williams said. “For him to step in and play 27 minutes was monumental.”
The Spanish freshman was much more fundamentally sound than he was in his early-season extended playing time. Del Pino rarely made a defensive mistake, and displayed play strength that simply wasn’t there before.
“How we train has really benefited him. His body has changed,” Williams said. “His consistency of playing here versus Europe in regards to the pace, in regards to the physicality, he’s beginning to adjust to all of that. And the job that [strength coach Steve Gephardt] has done in the weight room with him … that changes your game.”
And as the go-to point guard, Del Pino simply didn’t make mistakes with the ball. Maryland only turned it over eight times, in large part due to the freshman. He executed the pick-and-roll soundly, dished out three assists and didn’t record a single turnover.
Del Pino’s three shots — all 3-pointers — were what Williams refers to as “green lights.” He made two of them.
But the freshman saved his best for last. On the Huskies’ final possession, with the Terps leading by two points, Quimari Peterson secured an offensive rebound and looked to tie the game with a layup.
Del Pino swatted the ball out of his hands. Mills brought it down, kicked off the fastbreak and fed it back to Del Pino. Del Pino tossed an alley-oop back to him for the icing on top of the win.
“[Guillermo is] probably the most beloved teammate in our organization,” Williams said. “They were still celebrating him when I walked in. I thought he was the difference.”
Maryland beat the odds on the boards
Washington is one of the best rebounding teams (37.3 per game) in a conference known for its size. Maryland is far from that, especially without Pharrel Payne.
The Terps simply didn’t have a physical matchup for two Huskies starters: 6-foot-11 freshman phenom Hannes Steinbech and bulky 6-foot-11 center Franck Kepnang.
Williams’ gameplan for the pair worked to perfection. An uptick in down-low ball movement resulted in the pair being brought out of position with regularity. 6-foot-7 Solomon Washington capitalized. He used his aggression and length to secure a hard-fought six offensive rebounds, and 14 total.
Kepnang and Steinbech combined for just seven boards, six of which were defensive. They entered the game averaging a combined 17.6.
Steinbech is one of the best scoring forwards in the country, and he still played like it against Maryland. The German shot 7-of-8 for 14 points. But for his standards, that’s not much of an impact.
It took a smorgasbord of defenders to execute the gameplan on him. Solomon Washington, Turkson, Saunders, Metcalf and Mills all took turns tasked with Steinbech. But Maryland was able to keep him contained without too much double-teaming or trapping — meaning the Huskies couldn’t simply find the open man in rotation.
With the game on the line, Steinbech was completely taken out of action after making two critical buckets in less than a minute. The Huskies took four shots in the final 37 seconds, but Steinbech wasn’t able to get any of those looks.
