The Big Ten announced its men’s basketball matchups and locations Thursday for the 2018-19 conference schedule, which will be the first year each team plays 20 games against Big Ten opponents.
Each team will play seven teams twice (home and away) and six teams once (three home and three away).
A year after coach Mark Turgeon bemoaned the Terps’ conference schedule as the one of the toughest of any Big Ten team, the Terps appear to have drawn another tough slate for the 2018-19 year.
Maryland plays three (Michigan, Ohio State, Purdue) of the conference’s four 2018 NCAA tournament teams twice and its one matchup with Michigan State, the other tournament team, will be in East Lansing, Michigan.
Maryland’s home game against Illinois, the only meeting between those two teams on the schedule, will be played at Madison Square Garden in New York as part of a Big Ten “Super Saturday” basketball and hockey doubleheader.
The three teams Maryland will play only at home — Illinois, Indiana, Northwestern — went a combined 19-35 in conference play this year, with none finishing above .500.
The Terps will travel for their only matchups against Iowa and Rutgers.
Maryland will also play NIT champion Penn State, Minnesota, Nebraska and Wisconsin twice next season.
The dates, times and television information for each matchup will be announced at a later time, the conference said in a news release.
Maryland went 8-10 in Big Ten play this year, earning an eighth-place finish that was its lowest since joining the conference. The team missed the postseason for the first time since 2014 but will likely be expected to take a step forward next year.
Maryland’s top-two scorers — guards Anthony Cowan and Kevin Huerter — are poised to return for their junior seasons, and the Terps will add five-star center Jalen Smith, four-star guards Aaron Wiggins and Eric Ayala and Mississippi State transfer center Schnider Herard.
Forward Justin Jackson left for the NBA Draft, and forward Bruno Fernando (10.3 points, 6.5 rebounds this year) has entered the draft process without an agent, meaning it’s still unclear whether he will be back for his sophomore year.
