Jovanny Hernandez / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Maryland star Pharrel Payne suffers a freak injury on dunk

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports
By Darryn Albert | Last updated Nov 15, 2025 8:44 PM ET

Maryland star forward Pharrel Payne was injured on a very frightening spill during Saturday’s game.

Payne and the Terrapins faced off on Saturday against the Marquette Golden Eagles. In the second half at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisc., Payne threw down a thunderous dunk and came down on the foot of Marquette’s Joshua Clark (who was trying to get out of the way) as he let go of the rim.

As a result, Payne slipped and fell to the hardwood with his body crumpling very awkwardly as a result. Here is the scary video.

Here is a look at how Maryland’s star center Pharrel Payne was injured.

Brutal. pic.twitter.com/GU3tNuZGXw
— College Basketball Content (@CBBcontent) November 15, 2025

The senior Payne had to be stretchered off the court. He finished the contest with 13 points in 17 total minutes as Maryland went on to win by a final score of 89-82 to move to 3-1 on the season.

After the game, Maryland head coach Buzz Williams said that Payne had been taken to the hospital but added that “we don’t know anything.” Fortunately, Payne was apparently feeling well enough to post to social media about the team’s victory.

“How abt them terps !!” Payne wrote on X.

How abt them terps !!
— pharrelpayne (@pharrelpayne) November 15, 2025

Payne entered play on Saturday as Maryland’s leading scorer and rebounder with 20.0 points and 8.0 rebounds per game. But now it looks like he is set to miss some time after the extremely unlucky landing, which was reminiscent of the dunk-attempt injury that we saw in the NBA last season.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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