Welcome back to The Diamondback Sports Digest. Every week, we send you a rundown of the latest Maryland athletics news.
Maryland athletics had an action-packed week. Baseball and women’s lacrosse began their seasons while men’s and women’s basketball played critical swing games. Football even made headlines during the lull of the offseason.
Men’s basketball keeps rolling
No. 25 Maryland won its ninth game of its last 11 after dominating Iowa, 101-75, on Sunday. The win came after the Terps beat Nebraska, 83-75, on the road Thursday.
Coach Kevin Willard said his starting lineup, which scored 95 points Sunday, is “very comfortable with each other” at this point in the season. That’s been evident for most of Big Ten play, as the group averages a conference-leading 72 points.
The Terps are jockeying for a top-four Big Ten spot with five games left — they’re currently tied for fifth with UCLA. Securing one of those seeds would give them a double-bye in the conference tournament.
Michael Locksley loses a major staffer
Maryland football’s coaching staff has undergone sweeping changes after a disappointing 2024 season. That continued when defensive coordinator Brian Williams left the Terps to take the same role at Jacksonville State.
Williams spent six seasons with Maryland and was the lone remaining name from coach Michael Locksley’s inaugural coaching staff in 2019. He started as outside linebackers coach and became defensive coordinator in 2022, helping the Terps gradually improve their defense in his first two years. But they struggled on that side of the ball in 2024, ranking last in the Big Ten in sacks and 16th in opponent yards per game.
Locksley already replaced last season’s offensive coordinator, Josh Gattis, with Pep Hamilton. He’ll now be tasked with finding a new coordinator on the other side of the ball. Co-defensive coordinator Aazaar Abdul-Rahim could be a candidate to fill Williams’ role, or Locksley could look outside the program.
Baseball starts with a bang
Maryland baseball opened its season at the Swig and Swine College Classic in Charleston, South Carolina, this past weekend. The Terps wasted no time getting the bats out.
They combined for six home runs across three games, led by a monster weekend for Alex Calarco. The senior catcher hit three homers and drove in eight runs.
Maryland went 2-1 against UAB, Ball State and Mercyhurst, scoring 19 runs against the latter opponent on Saturday. It wasn’t the most rigorous competition the Terps will face this season, but coach Matt Swope’s squad still showed flashes of brilliance on both sides of the ball in its opening weekend.
Best Bits
- Kyle McCoy’s Tommy John recovery changed the way he eats and trains. Now he’s Maryland baseball’s ace.
- Hailey Merchant, a second-year transfer, had her best showing for Maryland gymnastics against Penn State.
- Maryland men’s lacrosse remained undefeated after an 11-7 win over No. 2 Syracuse on Saturday.
- Maryland softball’s losing streak extended to four games after a mercy-rule loss to UMass on Sunday.
- Eric Kolar’s family’s lacrosse history led him to become a key cog for Maryland.
Stat of the week
Men’s basketball made 58.8 percent of its field goals against Nebraska on Thursday, the highest clip in a Big Ten game since February 2023.
Quote of the week
“If he shot it every time, I’d be happy. If he never dribbled again, I’d be the happiest guy,” Willard said about Selton Miguel.
