Former Maryland point guard Kevin McLinton dies at 52

Kevin McLinton, who emerged as the Maryland men's basketball program's top broadcaster during his final three seasons from 1990 to 1993, died Thursday morning. He was 52.

The cause of death was initially unknown. Early Thursday, McLinton posted a photo of himself in a hospital on his Facebook account. “Looking for some prayers!!! “Could definitely use it,” he wrote.

“The Maryland Men's Basketball family mourns the loss of former guard Kevin McLinton, who played 91 games as a Terp and was co-captain in his final season,” the Terps broadcast said Posted on X, formerly Twitter. “We send our thoughts and prayers to his family and friends.”

In 91 games from 1989 to 1993 under then-new coach Gary Williams, McLinton averaged 11.3 points, 5.2 assists, 4.1 rebounds and 1.5 steals. The 6-foot-1, 220-pound point guard still ranks fourth on the school's all-time list in assists per game and ninth in total assists with 469.

Jerrod Mustaf, whose sophomore season in 1989-90 overlapped with McLinton's freshman year, said he has known McLinton since they were teenagers at one of Morgan Wootten's summer basketball camps at DeMatha High in Hyattsville, when Mustaf was a counselor and McLinton was a camper.

Mustaf – who spent four seasons in the NBA, including the last three with the Phoenix Suns – said the team struggled to find consistency at the point guard position in 1989-90.

“Every team he played with in our duels won. He was just so talented,” Mustaf recalled. “We [Mustaf and Tony Massenburg] nicknamed him “Juice” because we thought he resembled OJ Simpson when OJ Simpson ran through the airport in that commercial. That was in 1989. We used to say, 'Oh, that's Juice.'”

As a senior in the 1992-93 season, McLinton served as co-captain with power forward Evers Burns, a Woodlawn graduate, and set career highs in points (15.8 per game) and assists (6.3). His average assist total that year ranks eighth on the program's single-season list, and he led the Terps in assists in three consecutive seasons from 1990 to 1993.