Maryland, Georgetown basketball rivalry set to renew in 2025

For the first time in nearly a decade, Maryland and Georgetown will resume their rivalry with a four-game series in men's basketball that will begin in 2025, the schools announced Tuesday.

In their last matchup, a 75-71 win for Maryland in the 2016-17 season, the Terps and Hoyas were tied in the final minutes until former Maryland standout Rasheed Sulaimon hit a late 3-pointer to seal the win. Between 1935 and 1980, the two teams played every year with the exception of a three-year hiatus because of World War II. They haven't played regularly in more than 30 years.

The rival schools sit just 23 miles apart between College Park, Maryland, and the Georgetown campus in Washington, D.C.

Their renewed rivalry will begin with a matchup in Maryland at the Xfinity Center during the 2025-26 season before Georgetown hosts the following year. Maryland will host in 2027 and the game will be played at Georgetown in 2028.

Two of the legends who fueled the rivalry had been lukewarm about its renewal.

The rivalry between Maryland coach Lefty Driesell and former Georgetown coach John Thompson Jr. stalled any talks of regular series between the two schools. The two coaches spent years blaming one another for the state of the rivalry, as they both competed for national titles in the 1980s.

While their respect for one another became more apparent later in their lives, a hint of animosity always remained.

Driesell, then the head coach at Georgia State in 1998, wore French cuff links and a tailored suit in a game at Georgetown that would have been his 700th career victory. His team lost and Driesell, who died in February, swore he wasn't making a fashion statement at the expense of his perennial rival. 

When former Georgetown head coach John Thompson III decided to play Maryland almost a decade ago, his father, who died in 2020, wasn't exactly excited about the game.

"I'm not going over there to play no Maryland at Maryland," Thompson said in 2015, according to the Washington Post. "John's mother must have been advising him. I know it damn sure wasn't me, to say he's gonna go over there and play Maryland at Maryland."

Entering next season, Ed Cooley's Georgetown squad will be led by returning vet Jayden Epps and a fleet of transfers, including former TCU standout Micah Peavy. Kevin Willard will lead a Maryland squad in 2024-25 that will rely on Julian Reese, the brother of WNBA star Angel Reese.