The No. 15 Maryland Terrapins are hunting an upset, as the once-Top 10 college basketball squad looks to bounce back from two straight ranked losses when they face a rising No. 10 Iowa side on Thursday night.
Once ranked as high as No. 7 in the 2025/26 NCAA season, conference losses to No. 12 Ohio State and No. 3 UCLA sent the Big Ten mainstay skidding in recent weeks.
"Every time this team has not had the outcome that they've wanted, they've done a tremendous job of just really taking the lessons and learning from them, and being ready to move on against their next opponent," Maryland head coach Brenda Frese said.
After last year's NCAA tournament exit in the Sweet Sixteen round, the Terps entered the 2025/26 season anticipating an even deeper run, but a rash of season-ending injuries have forced Maryland to take a different approach.
"Clearly, the injury bug has not been kind to us," Frese said after losing senior guard Kaylene Smikle to a December knee injury. "But I will say that the resiliency in this locker room, as you just witnessed, is something I haven't seen in a really long time."
How to watch Iowa vs. Maryland basketball on Thursday
The No. 15 Terrapins will host the No. 10 Hawkeyes at 6 PM ET on Thursday, with live coverage airing on Peacock.
The 2025/26 NCAA basketball season is just around the corner, and the Big Ten is celebrating by shouting out the conference's top predicted performers in both the coaches and media preseason polls on Thursday.
The UCLA Bruins — the Big Ten's singular 2025 Final Four participant — took the top team spot in both surveys, with the Maryland Terrapins trailing just behind as the conference's No. 2 ranked squad.
Rounding out the Top 5 in both polls were the USC Trojans, Michigan Wolverines, and Ohio State Buckeyes.
As for individual athletes, UCLA senior and the reigning Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Lauren Betts clocked in as the polls' unanimous favorite for Big Ten Player of the Year, with the standout center unsurprisingly capturing the top spot in the absence of injured USC star and 2025 Naismith Player of the Year JuJu Watkins.
Also picking up preseason All-Big Ten Team honors in both surveys were fellow UCLA standout Kiki Rice plus four other seniors: Iowa's Hannah Stuelke, Maryland's Yarden Garzon and Kaylene Smikle, and Michigan State's Grace VanSlooten.
A trio of underclassmen also made the cut in both 2025/26 preseason polls, with Ohio State's Jaloni Cambridge — last year's Big Ten Freshman of the Year — joined by a pair of fellow sophomores from archrival Michigan, Olivia Olson and Syla Swords.
The final spot on the All-Big Ten Team lists went to one of the Washington Huskies, with the 18 conference head coaches tapping junior Sayvia Sellers while the media honored senior Elle Ladine.
The 2025/26 NCAA basketball season tips off on November 3rd.