Maryland set to face Illinois in Big Ten Tournament; Kevin Willard talks BTT prep, managing rest, mental preparation

Ahmed Ghafir
Mar 13
7 min read

#7 Illinois (21-11, 12-8) vs. #2 Maryland (24-7, 14-6)

When & Where: March 14, 2025 | 6:30 PM | Gainbridge Fieldhouse

TV: BTN | Kevin Kugler, Robbie Hummel, Andy Katz

Radio: One Maryland App | 105.7 FM | 980 AM | SiriusXM channel 84

Betting: Maryland -1.5 | O/U: 155.5 (DraftKings)

Maryland men’s basketball’s first opponent in the Big Ten Tournament is now set with the Terps set to face seven-seed Illinois, who defeated Iowa, 106-92, on Thursday night.

In the highest scoring game in Big TenTournament history, Kylan Boswell led the way in Illinois' win over Iowa, finishing with a team-high 24 points as one of three Illini to score 20 or more in the win with the team shooting nearly 54% from the field and 50% from three.

This marks the second meeting between the two teams after Maryland defeated Illinois, 91-70, in Champaign back on Jan. 23. Illinois was without Timislav Ivisic in the matchup while Will Riley was limited as Maryland took full advantage, outscoring the Illini 62-34 in the paint. Julian Reese led the way with the monster performance with 27 points and 17 rebounds while Derik Queen added 25 points on 10-of-13 shooting.

Illinois will take their four-game win streak into Friday where a now-healthy team look for their third ranked win in March after taking down Michigan on the road and Purdue at home. Morez Johnson Jr., who was sidelined with a broken wrist for roughly the last month, rejoined the team ahead of the Big Ten Tournament.

Meanwhile, Maryland will look to extend their win streak to four on Friday in search of their first Big Ten semifinals appearance since 2016 with the Terps just 2-3 all-time in the quarterfinal stage. Maryland will also look to pick up their eighth Quad One win of the season.

For the last time, head coach Kevin Willard met with the media this week to preview the Big Ten Tournament while he also dives into questions about the team’s postseason experience, enthusiasm around a potential postseason run, the transfer portal and more:

Kevin Willard on how he’s approaching Big Ten Tournament

“Yeah, we're excited about it. It's first time being a double bye so the break has been nice to kind of get these guys mentally reset a little bit after the tough grind of end of February, March. So we're looking forward to it. It's a great opportunity. Obviously you want to win a Big Ten championship and improve your seeding in the NCAA Tournament because that gives you better chances. So we're looking to go into India and play.”

Willard on the mood heading into the tournament

“I think they're getting there. Yesterday was our first day back kind of practicing. So I think a little bit…we're getting back into the swing. They will be excited. It's just kids don't get excited three days before something happens anymore.”

Willard on managing several starters with no tournament experience

“I mean, I think the good thing is that they've all played in conference tournaments before, so I think they have that. And obviously I think they all respect this league greatly now. I think it took a little time for them to understand how good this league is and how good the players are in the league. So I think the fact that they've been through the league, they've all played in conference tournaments, they are all excited about postseason play. You're still going out there and playing one of the teams you've played before.”

“I think it's – there's a respect in this league that I see within the players as they go through it. They know that they're going to have to go out there and play very well [A] to win a game, and more or less, win three games against the competition in this league.”

Willard on the enthusiasm about the team’s potential March run

“I think it's great. I love, you know, the whole ‘Crab Five’ thing, I thought was really cool how that just kind of took a life of its own, and it started outside of the athletic department. [It] didn't really have anything to do with us, but yeah, I think everyone's really enjoyed watching these guys play. I think that's what I'm more excited about than anything is that the way we've played, the way these guys have played, I think has electrified the fan base. Not just that we're winning, we're 11th in the country and a two seed. I think the way we've played has been a lot of fun to watch.”

Willard on how to keep the team mentally prepared

“The last four games was a grind mentally for these guys and for the staff. So I think we took off Sunday, I think we lifted Monday. Yesterday was our first day kind of back. Today will be a real practice and then we'll kind of do what we've been doing is really nothing day before games, walk through. So we haven't been great coming off breaks but I think this break was much needed just from the fact that the grind was real those last four games. I think the pressure, the stress of where we were, how we were playing. I think that was a little bit of a mental fatigue on our guys.”

Willard on the ability to rebuild a roster in one offseason in the current landscape of college basketball

“That's a deep question.I mean, we went into the portal with a really, really specific plan of how we wanted to play. The COVID year and the six-year guys made that much easier. It's going to be a much more difficult task going forward just because I don't think it's going to be as easy because you're not going to have as many players in the system. I mean, were losing a dramatic amount of extra year guys that had COVID years. If you look at [John] Tonje from Wisconsin, he's in his sixth year, Selton [Miguel] in his fifth year, Jay [Young] is in his fifth year. There's going to be no more of those guys. So when you take, I think it's in this league alone, I think there was 49 grad transfers. I think it was somewhere in that. You take 49 guys off the rosters. That's a huge, huge change I think we're all going to go through in the portal so. And then now we're going to throw in profit sharing, and we're going to throw in, everyone's going to have $3 million to build rosters. It's going to be, I think, much more difficult to sustain it and to build it than it was last year.”

Willard on whether he’s able to evaluate personalities during portal pursuit

“No. I mean, that's why we still do official visits. I mean, everyone says official visits are stupid. Technically, they kind of are stupid now because you're making decisions a lot based on money and fit for these kids. But for coaches, we use official visits just really - we've already done our homework. We've already watched ten games on them. We’ve already make phone calls but we use visits just to see how we interact with them, how they interact with our players. More or less, it's like a personality test, more than anything. So, there's still a fit, there's still obviously money, but the personality standpoint is big and official visits, Ja’Kobi visited here, and right away I knew that was going to be my guy. Like, I just from there was no BS. Same thing with selton. Selton came in, he didn't even want to look at campus. He was like, you know, I like your offense. Like, I know I can help your team win. I want to get to the NCAA Tournament. Rodney was the same way. Tafara [Gapare] was the same way. Tafara was, you know, we had known Tafara. But, we asked certain questions of every kid coming in from the portal, specific questions, not just their goals, what they think they can help the team goals. Unfortunately, the history of programs and stuff like that have kind of gone - it's a little bit more ‘what have you done now?’”

Willard on Maryland’s defensive development through Big Ten play

“Two things helped us - we slowed down dramatically offensively. I think we went from second to second but we were taking almost two seconds more per possession in the last four games on offense, and it doesn't seem like that's that much, but if you add the total amount of possessions in a game with two seconds becomes dramatic, so we slowed down a little bit on purpose. I slowed them down just a little bit because I did see some mental fatigue. And with less possessions, less fast break for us, I thought we were a little fresher on the defensive end.”

Willard on Maryland’s improved shooting in final regular season games

“I do, but I also think this time of year you better learn how to win ugly. It's not going to be always so smooth on the offensive end, especially to play a team like at Penn State. It's not going to be smooth. They're going to trap you. Michigan State, I think, is one of the best defensive teams I've gone against in a long time. So I do think that we will get back to being a little bit better offensively, just being a little bit more fresh. But I do like, I really like the fact that we can grind them out. That's showing me that we can play two different styles and win two different ways.”

Willard on the goal heading into Big Ten Tournament

“I love conference tournaments. I know other coaches don't like them. I think it's a great opportunity for your fans and for your players to get experience. So I don't even look at the NCAA Tournament right now. I'm just really focused on this conference tournament and where we're going to play on Friday. And then you transition to it. I think the deeper you get, sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad. I've been the Big East finals and been wiped out and had to go and played, and I've lost in the first round and then my team's been great. So it's, I think each team is different. I think now in the portal era, you're going to play for a Big Ten championship. I think that's really special. It's really cool. And I think that should be your focus.”

Related Links