By Eli Cohen and Harrison Rich
Maryland men’s basketball is expected to have a busy offseason. Former coach Kevin Willard departed to Villanova on Sunday, and Terps fans will await the ensuing roster turnover in the transfer portal.
Stay on top of Maryland’s portal activity with The Diamondback’s transfer tracker, which will be regularly updated with more information.
Monday, March 31: Tafara Gapare enters transfer portal
Gapare was the first Terp to enter the portal, just a day after Willard’s departure was announced. He played 32 games in his lone season with Maryland, averaging 3.4 points and 1.9 rebounds in 10.4 minutes.
The junior forward’s playing time diminished as the season progressed. Willard said Gapare missed 12 straight days with the flu late in the season and lost 19 pounds.
Gapare transferred to Maryland after spending his first two seasons at UMass and Georgia Tech. Gapare’s next destination will be his fourth school in four years.
Monday, March 31: Jay Young enters transfer portal
Young, a graduate guard, played in all 36 games as the Terps’ backup point guard, averaging 1.8 points in 10.2 minutes. He shot 36.7 percent from the field and 37.5 percent on 3-pointers.
The Texas native will play his seventh year of college basketball next season — he has one more year of eligibility because he played two seasons at the junior college level.
Young spent just one season in College Park. He signed with Maryland last July as the team’s final addition of the past offseason.
Monday, March 31: Rodney Rice enters transfer portal
Rice joined the Terps last offseason from Virginia Tech and averaged 13.8 points on 37 percent three-point shooting. The Clinton native started 32 games after playing the first four off the bench.
Rice spent his first collegiate season with the Hokies but played just eight games before stepping away from the program in October 2023. He entered the transfer portal after the season and was Maryland’s first transfer commitment in March 2024.
The 6-foot-4 sophomore could consider returning to Maryland depending on who its next head coach is, Jeff Ermann of InsideMDSports reported.
Monday, March 31: Ja’Kobi Gillespie enters transfer portal
Gillespie averaged 14.7 points, 4.8 assists and 2.8 rebounds while leading the conference in 3-pointers. In Big Ten play, the junior guard had the 15th-highest points per game and the fifth-most assists, leading the Terps in both categories.
The former Belmont transfer and All-Big Ten third team selection is the fourth Terp to enter the portal after coach Kevin Willard left for Villanova Sunday. Gillespie joins Tafara Gapare, Rodney Rice and Jay Young.
Gillespie and Rice’s departures likely means Maryland could lose its entire starting five, the highest-scoring starting lineup in college basketball affectionately dubbed the “Crab Five.” Selton Miguel and Julian Reese each exhausted their college eligibility, while freshman center Derik Queen is a projected lottery pick in the NBA draft.
Monday, March 31: DeShawn Harris-Smith enters transfer portal
The guard averaged 2.5 points and 2.4 rebounds as a sophomore, starting the Terps’ first four games before Rice took his spot. Harris-Smith was an All-Big Ten freshman team selection last year when he averaged 7.3 points.
He was Maryland’s fourth-best recruit since 2000, according to 247Sports. Heading into the 2024 season, Willard described 6-foot-5, 208-pound Harris-Smith as “by far the most talented player, probably the most physically gifted basketball player I’ve ever been able to coach so far.”
Harris-Smith’s best game of the season came against Grand Canyon in the first round of the NCAA tournament, where he tallied 11 points on 5-for-5 shooting. He went scoreless in the Terps’ previous nine contests, though, and struggled to carve out a big role largely due to shooting woes.
Tuesday, April 1: Braden Pierce enters transfer portal
The redshirt freshman big man played just five games during his two seasons in College Park, all of which came this year. Pierce averaged 2.4 points and 2.4 rebounds in 7.2 minutes.
Pierce was the lone 7-footer on the Terps’ roster, but never carved out a consistent role behind star big men Derik Queen and Julian Reese. Associate head coach David Cox said last September that Pierce impressed in the offseason, but the Woodstock, Georgia, native suffered a season-ending eye injury in December.
In his announcement posted to X, Pierce said he entered the portal because of Willard’s recent departure for Villanova. He added that there is a possibility he returns to Maryland.
Tuesday, April 1: Jahari Long enters transfer portal
The fifth year guard didn’t play this season after suffering a knee injury in the 2024 Big Ten tournament.
Long averaged 3.3 points in his 65 career games at Maryland, serving as a back up point guard for two seasons. He came to College Park in 2022, following Willard from Seton Hall.
Tuesday, April 1: Malachi Palmer enters transfer portal
The freshman received early-season minutes against a weak nonconference schedule but played sparingly in conference play.
The Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, native, who played in Baltimore during high school, only scored one point since New Year’s. The former three-star recruit, who averaged 1.6 points and 1.4 rebounds, scored a career-high 10 points in Maryland’s 71-point win over Canisius in November.
Willard said in December he thought Palmer would become one of the elite defenders in college basketball, and added “he’s gonna be someone who makes a lot of money at the next level because he can defend at such a high level.”
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misspelled Jeff Ermann’s name.
This story will be updated.
