Takeaways from Maryland men's basketball's opening win vs. Illinois at the Big Ten Tournament:
Complete domination
In the first matchup, Maryland took advantage of an Illinois squad without Tomislav Ivisic as Julian Reese and Derik Queen combined for a season-high 62 bench points. Fast forward nearly two months later, how Maryland would battle a healthy Illini frontcourt in round two was a question mark – until the game tipped off.
Similar to what fans have seen all season, Friday’s win against the Illini was sparked by another balanced effort from the starting five. Derik Queen finished with 19 points and ten rebounds, recording his 14th double-double of the season yet one point shy of a program-record 11 20-point games. Julian Reese inched closer to Jake Layman for 22nd on the all-time scoring list with ten points and four rebounds in the win, though Selton Miguel added just nine points in his lowest-scoring game since the Michigan State loss.
Rodney Rice, meanwhile, played like he took his All-Big Ten snub to heart after hitting his first four three-point attempts on the way to a game-high 18 points by halftime and 26 points by the final buzzer. He finished with 26 points, the most by a Terp since Jake Layman did the same against Nebraska in 2016, while his seven threes mark a new program record and sit tied for second in the Big Ten for most in a conference tournament game. Gillespie wasn’t far behind, adding a pair of threes to fuel his 12 points, five assists and zero turnovers to lead Maryland to a 26-point halftime lead.
Illinois had no answer for the Terps’ outside shooting, but to make matters worse, the Illini were held to under 34% shooting inside the arc and under 22% from three through the first 20 minutes as the Terps controlled the paint. Long enough for the Terps to turn the game out of reach as they maintained at least a 22 point lead through the second half.
But most importantly, for a team that leans nearly entirely on its starting five, Maryland’s lead that grew to as many as 36 points midway through the second half allowed head coach Kevin Willard to empty his bench with Rice and Gillespie on the bench for the final 12 minutes before Julian Reese, Selton Miguel and Derik Queen were all out of the game by the 6:52 mark.
In a conference slate that’s featured plenty of highlights in year three of the Kevin Willard era, Friday marked arguably their most complete and impressive performance of the season.
Efficiency drives the blowout win
Maryland’s shooting was the easy takeaway as the team shot at least 40% from three for the tenth time in Big Ten play, finishing 47.8% from deep with Rice and Gillespie combining to shoot 9-of-14 from three. While the scoring was on point, so was the ball handling after Maryland finished the first half without a turnover and ended their Friday night performance with just three, the fewest recorded under Kevin Willard and since at least the 2019-20 season.
Taking care of the basketball proved to be the difference with the Illini turning those three turnovers into zero points, while Maryland turned Illinois’ 17 turnovers into 22 points with 17 of those points in the first half.
Production extends beyond the ‘Crab Five’
Happy whistles put Maryland in peculiar foul trouble early after Gillespie, Rice, Queen and Reese all picked up one foul each within the first four minutes of the game before Queen and Reese picked up their second in the closing minutes of the first half.
Though he extended his scoreless streak to eight games, DeShawn Harris-Smith’s impact off the bench was evident early after picking up all four rebounds in his first five minutes of action, while Ben Humrichous saw his attempt at the rim swatted by Tafara Gapare nearly one minute after checking in for the first time. Jay Young was the lone to finish in foul trouble with four fouls in 15 minutes, but no one had a bigger impact than the senior off the bench: Jordan Geronimo.
Geronimo contributed to Maryland’s outside shooting with a three at the 10:25 mark in the first half, extending the early lead to 29-10 to force head coach Brad Underwood to call timeout. Geronimo contributed 11 of Maryland’s 15 bench points in the win, marking the most since the Jan. 19 win vs. Northwestern.
Tafara Gapare would score the lone four points over the final 9:19, still enough for the Terps to coast to the final horn, but it also helped give Maryland 15 bench points in the win – the most since the Jan. 19 win vs. Northwestern.
Moving forward
Just like Illinois, Maryland will look for its second win in as many chances when they face Michigan on Saturday at roughly 3:30 PM on CBS. It marks the first Big Ten Tournament match since the 2021 scuffle between former head coaches Mark Turgeon and Juwan Howard, though the Terps will look for its fourth consecutive win against the Wolverines. Saturday also marks the first chance for a neutral court win vs. Michigan since Dec. 2, 2000.
With a win, Maryland will reach its first-ever Big Ten Championship game with the winner of Michigan State/Wisconsin moving onto Sunday’s finale ahead of the bracket reveal. But the bigger question is: has Maryland already done enough to move to a three-seed?
Joe Lunardi of ESPN thinks so with the latest update now projecting Maryland as a three-seed vs. UNC-Wilmington in the East Region.
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