Diggy Coit explodes for career-high; propels Maryland men’s basketball to 95-90 win over Mount St. Mary’s

Photo courtesy of Mackenzie Miles/Maryland Athletics

To most, it was just a normal Wednesday in College Park.

For those at the Xfinity Center, it was a different story. Fans in attendance were witness to a record-setting night from Kansas transfer guard David “Diggy” Coit, who dropped 41 points in Maryland Basketball’s (4-1) 95-90 overtime victory over Mount St. Mary’s (1-4). 

Coit’s performance marks the most points scored by a player in a single game in Xfinity Center’s history, breaking Diamond Stone’s record of 39 set in 2015. 

“After the game, [Diggy] gives me a hug and I said, ‘Perfect opportunity. How are you gonna handle this?’” coach Buzz Williams said. “Because his growth has happened privately, but his growth was revealed tonight publicly. He’s easy to like.”

Coit’s 41 marks just the eighth 40-plus-point performance by a Terp ever and is tied for the third most in program history, matching Greivis Vasquez against Virginia Tech in 2010, Len Bias against Duke in 1986 and Gene Shue against Washington & Lee in 1953. It was the first time a Terp scored 40 or more since Vasquez in 2010. 

Coit notched the first points of the game for the Terps with a stepback three after the Mountaineers quickly went up 4-0. He would finish the day eight-for-10 from beyond the arc. 

The teams entered the locker rooms at halftime with the Terps up 40-32, despite the Mountaineers leading the Terps in field goal and three-point shooting percentages.

“Coach [Donny] Lind is tremendous,” Williams said. “The execution of their team … tremendous. But I think the endurance of our guys has continued to increase. We’ve tried to be very diligent and faithful in not skipping steps.”

In the second half, the Terps got off to a hot start. At the 14:23 mark, they led 53-40 and looked to be running away with the game. However, the Mountaineers used a 16-3 run to tie the game at 56 with exactly 10 minutes left on the clock. On the next possession, the visitors took a 59-56 lead, their first since 12 minutes remained in the first half.

The driving factor in the comeback and the subsequent battle for the remainder of the second half was the Mountaineers’ three-point shooting – they finished the day shooting 17-for-36 from long range. 

As the Terps have done for much of this season, their offense was driven by getting the ball inside and drawing fouls. The Terps converted 37 of their 47 free throws – the second time this season they’ve converted at least 30 attempts from the charity stripe, while in every game so far this season they’ve made at least 20 free throws. 

The Terps used their success from the line to get back into the game, but also rode a more efficient three-point performance in the second half, where they shot at a 50% clip.

Still, the Mountaineers remained hot and wouldn’t surrender. With just 30 seconds remaining, they led 75-71. But Coit saved his best for last. With 8 seconds left on the clock, he sank a game-tying three-pointer to knot the game at 77. The Mountaineers drove down for the win, but a contested layup at the rim wouldn’t fall, and Darius Adams’ full-court heave came up short.

“I was just trying to make the right play and read the game,” Coit said. “I was just trying to play smart. We all made big plays. I was trying not to be selfish and just try to make the right play. I want the best shot we can get.”

Coit came up clutch once again in overtime, hitting another three-pointer with 52 seconds left to put the Terps in front 89-85. The Mountaineers resorted to three consecutive fouls against Adams, who made all six of his free throws. Adams finished with a career-high 19 points, 17 of which came from the line. 

The victory marks the Terps’ third in a row, despite them facing crucial injuries. It was their first full game without center Pharrel Payne, the team’s leading scorer through the first four games, who was injured in Saturday’s win over Marquette. Payne wasn’t wearing any sort of cast on Wednesday, though, potentially indicating a quicker return than initially expected.

The Terps received another dose of good news during the game. In the first half, the Xfinity Center exploded in cheers during a commercial break when fans learned that local five-star prospect Baba Oladotun, one of the top players in the country in the class of 2026, had committed to Buzz Williams and the Terps. 

After a shaky start to the season, the Terps have strung together wins in peculiar fashions, navigating a roster that’s still trying to gel and has been hit hard by injuries. 

“A credit to Diggy, but also a credit to those eight guys that played in a completely different role than they’ve ever played,” Williams said. “We’ve played five games and every game there’s been a different role assigned on things that we can’t control, and I think that they continue to have growth. Our guys continue to receive these elementary things required in this foundational work, which is a credit to them.”