Maryland is set to return to action Dec. 28 versus Lehigh after lengthy holiday layoff.

After the cancellation of the NCAA tournament in 2020 and a challenging start last season which included several non-conference games to be cancelled for Maryland in the early goings, the 2021-2022 season seemed to tip-off without a hitch. But the latest surge of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 has seen a number of college basketball programs have to pause their season and cancel games. One of those programs is Loyola of Maryland, who the Terps were originally scheduled to play Dec. 28.

With the announcement that the Loyola game was being cancelled on Christmas Eve, the Terps had a small window to find a replacement opponent but were able to land Lehigh to fill the open slot.

“Obviously, this is something we were hoping to avoid this season after going through what we went through last year, but you also know that a lot of it is out of your control,” said Maryland interim head coach Danny Manning. “And you try to control what you can in your bubble and try to make sure we give ourselves an opportunity to play and that’s the best we can do. Our trainers and medical staff are doing a good job of constantly reminding us to wear our mask and stay masked up whenever we are moving and things of that nature and that’s what we can control. It's been a challenge without question. When you see games that are getting cancelled, you see games that are getting cancelled like an hour or less before tip, so for us or for anybody, you feel fortunate if you get the opportunity to play and that’s our mindset.”

For the Terps it has been an unusually long holiday break. The team last played a game on Dec. 12 in Brooklyn versus Florida and the last time they practiced was the morning of Dec. 19 before most players went home to spend time with their families for the holidays. And although the break was extremely long, it was much needed for a team who has dealt with a lot both on and off the court through the first month of the season, according to Manning.

“All the teams I’ve been involved with, this is probably the longest break I’ve ever experienced with a basketball team,” said Manning. “So For us, you want to knock the rust off, getting up and down the court and you get a chance to do that in a game environment, which is always good. So we’re excited to get back out on the court and play a game. We have to continue to build on what we did the last time we stepped out on the court versus Florida and go from there. So we’re looking forward to getting on the court. We hope that we’ll be able to get on the court and let's get out there and play. Our guys have gone through a lot these last few weeks with the coaching change, got a chance to go home for break, recharge their batteries and come back and get ready for a long conference season. Because conference season is a long, long grind of a haul.”

For the Maryland players, the team had not yet begun preparing for Loyola before the game was cancelled, so there was no having to learn scouting reports on multiple teams. As for Lehigh, they enter Tuesday night’s game with a 1-9 record, their lone win coming over Columbia of the Ivy League.

While Lehigh has struggled this season, they do have some size. The Mountain Hawks started 6-foot-11 senior center Nic Lynch in their last outing along with 6-foot-7 Jeameril Wilson at power forward and 6-foot-6 Evan Taylor at the wing.

With many Big Ten teams presenting matchup problems with big front courts, Manning has let it be known that his hope is to get both freshman big man Julian Reese and junior center Qudus Wahab on the floor at the same time. With January right around the corner and Lehigh having some size, perhaps Tuesday night’s game could be one in which they start to see significant minutes on the floor together.

“Yes, we’re going to play those guys together,” Manning said when asked about Reese and Wahab seeing the floor together more often moving forward. “I like playing those two together. It’s not going to be always for extended periods of time. It will be certain matchups, it might be because of foul trouble or unfortunately, knock on wood, injury, if you will. But we do feel comfortable playing those guys together and we’re starting to feel comfortable with the package when they are together.”

The Terps should also get a boost in the backcourt with the return of sophomore guard Ian Martinez following the long holiday layoff after missing the Florida game due to concussion protocol for a head injury sustained during the Northwestern game.

"Ian has been on the practice court with us and we feel good about him being able to play in our upcoming game against Lehigh," said Manning. "We certainly missed him and we need him out on the court, he’s dynamic, he’s explosive and he just gives us another good player that we can utilize in our rotations. So we’re certainly happy to have him back out on the court because I don’t know who saw it, but he got his bell rocked pretty good, taking a knee to the head and then hitting the wood. So first and foremost, we’re just thankful that he’s healthy enough to come back from that and he’s had a couple good days of practice since he has been back."

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