COLLEGE PARK, MD – The 2023 Gavitt Games were officially announced on Wednesday with the Maryland men’s basketball team taking on Villanova on Nov. 7 in Philadelphia. Tip-off times and television assignments will be announced at a later date with games airing on either FS1 or BTN.
The Gavitt Tipoff Games is an annual early-season series played between the two conferences and named in honor of Dave Gavitt, founder of the BIG EAST and basketball visionary. The 2023 Gavitt Games are a make-up of the games cancelled in 2020, what was the final scheduled year for the series, due to COVID-19.
Maryland is 3-0 all-time in Gavitt play, defeating Georgetown 76-75 in 2016-17 at the Verizon Center and 75-71 on Nov. 17, 2015 at the XFINITY Center. The Terps last played in the games in 2017-18 with a 79-65 win over Butler in the XFINITY Center.
All-time, Maryland is 1-4 against Villanova with the last meeting coming in Philadelphia on Jan. 15, 2011 – a 74-66 win for the Wildcats. Since the two teams first started playing in 1985, the Terps won the first meeting with Nova having won four straight in the series.
The Terps posted a 16-1 home record last season in the XFINITY Center including a 10-0 mark against Big Ten opponents. The conference slate was highlighted by wins over No. 3 Purdue, No. 16 Illinois, and No. 21 Indiana as well as against Michigan.
Overall, Maryland finished the year with a 22-13 overall record to reach the NCAA Tournament in
Kevin Willard's first season as head coach. The Terps were ranked as high as No. 13 in the AP Top 25 poll during the 2022-23 campaign and as high as No. 6 in the NCAA NET.
The Terps' returning players are highlighted by the trio of
Jahmir Young,
Julian Reese, and
Donta Scott, while the current incoming class is ranked 15th nationally.