By Eli Cohen and Harrison Rich
Maryland men’s basketball is having a busy offseason. Former coach Kevin Willard departed to Villanova, 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.
Arrivals
Friday, April 4: Pharrel Payne commits to Maryland
Newly-hired coach Buzz Williams landed his first commitment since taking the helm in College Park, as Texas A&M forward Pharrel Payne announced that he’s following Williams to Maryland.
Despite playing 20 minutes a game, Payne averaged 10.4 points and 5.1 rebounds as a junior, ranking third on the Aggies in both. Payne began his career at Minnesota, where he played for two years.
The junior’s two highest-scoring games both came in the NCAA tournament, where he scored 25 and 26 points while shooting a combined 20-for-25 from the field. Payne also ranked No. 57 nationally in offensive rebound percentage, according to KenPom, fitting the mold of Williams’ style as Texas A&M led the country in offensive boards in each of the last two seasons.
Friday, April 4: Solomon Washington commits to Maryland
After Payne posted his announcement, Solomon Washington, a fellow Aggies forward, said he’s also headed to College Park. Washington averaged 4.7 points and 5.1 rebounds but shot sub-40 percent while tallying 23 starts in his junior season.
Washington had a better season in 2023-24, where he averaged 7.4 points on 48.3 percent shooting. He’s been inside the top 230 for offensive rebounding percentage in each of the last two years .
Sunday, April 6: Myles Rice commits to Maryland
After picking up two frontcourt players, the Terps landed their first guard on Sunday in Indiana transfer Myles Rice. The 6-foot-3 sophomore is a combo guard who averaged 10 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists this season.
Rice was Indiana’s second-leading assister and fourth-leading scorer in his one year with the Hoosiers. He started his college career at Washington State, where he redshirted his first season and broke out in his second. The South Carolina native was a hot commodity in the transfer portal last offseason after averaging nearly 15 points and four assists with the Cougars in the 2023-24 season.
While not a knockdown shooter — Rice has a career 29.4 percent clip on threes — he possesses good size for a lead guard and is capable of setting up an offense. Rice has never shot more than 44 percent from the field but is a career 81 percent free throw shooter. He shot just 53.6 percent at the rim last season after converting 61 percent of his looks the year prior in the Pac-12.
Tuesday, April 8: David Coit commits to Maryland
The 5-foot-11 guard comes to College Park after a season at Kansas, where he averaged about five points as a reserve guard. Coit played all 34 games for the Jayhawks but started only three, playing about 15 minutes per contest.
The Columbus, New Jersey, native played his first season at Atlantic Cape Community College before transferring to Northern Illinois for his next two. Coit’s 20.8 points per game in 2023-24 ranked second in the Mid American Conference.
Coit will likely fill a similar role for the Terps, who now have five players committed for next season and are in need of some more ball handling and shooting.
Departures
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.”
Tuesday, April 8: Chance Stephens enters transfer portal
It looked like Stephens was going to be the only Terp to stay on the roster, but the redshirt sophomore entered the portal a week after his teammates. His departure means Maryland will have an entirely new team and coaching staff next season.
The California native spent two seasons in College Park after starting his career at Loyola Marymount. Stephens missed his first year with a torn patellar tendon, then played seven games this year and averaged 1.3 points.
He sat out for multiple months this season because of an illness.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misspelled Jeff Ermann’s name.
This story will be updated.
