Maryland men’s basketball defeats Wagner, 89-63, in final game before Big Ten play

Pharrel Payne is an unstoppable force against low-major teams. The center averaged 21.5 points and 6.5 rebounds in 29 minutes per game against Coppin State and Alcorn State, the two he’d played against entering Tuesday.

But the senior saved his best for Wagner, the final low-major opponent of his career. On a night where Maryland men’s basketball was a shell of itself early on, Payne’s efforts kept the Terps ahead until they found their form in the second half.

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Payne notched the first 30-point game of his career, and did it adding 10 rebounds. Multiple suffocating Maryland runs after halftime catapulted it to a 89-63 victory over Wagner Tuesday at Xfinity Center.

Payne’s explosion came alongside the return of his partner in the frontcourt. Junior forward Solomon Washington made his Maryland debut after missing the first eight games with an ankle injury.

The Texas A&M transfer finished with 10 points and six rebounds in his first game at Xfinity Center.

Washington’s return meant head coach Buzz Williams deployed his first three-forward starting lineup of the season, with Elijah Saunders joining Washington and Payne.

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The Terps needed a lot from that trio Tuesday — the guard group had their worst showing of the season. Maryland’s first basket by a guard didn’t come until there was 1:12 left in the first half, on a Darius Adams 3-pointer.

It wasn’t always flashy, but those three-forward lineups — which also cycled in Aleks Alston and Collin Metcalf — kept Maryland afloat in a brutal first half. The Seahawks were within two possessions for nearly the entire frame and led for a combined 3:39 of game time before halftime.

The Terps deployed a three-guard lineup for 12:09 of that first half, and their plus/minus in that frame was -9. Three-forward lineups garnered +10, and a four-guard lineup just before half led to a 6-0 run.

Payne made Maryland’s first shot attempt of the game. Then a script becoming all-too-common for the Terps kicked…

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Publish date : 2025-12-03 03:45:00

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