Maryland men's basketball replicates success in Champaign, takes down 17th-ranked Illinois 91-70

Ahmed Ghafir
Jan 24
3 min read

When Maryland needed a road win, they went to where they found success last year: in Champaign.

Maryland picked up its second consecutive win after taking down 17th-ranked Illinois, 91-70, on Thursday night in a game Maryland led for all but three minutes.

Julian Reese and Derik Queen led the way with 52 points and 23 rebounds between the Baltimore duo as head coach Kevin Willard made it clear the gameplan was to run through his frontcourt on the road. Julian Reese finished with 27 points and 17 rebounds, both career highs, while Derik Queen added 25 points on 10-of-13 shooting as both secured their seventh 20-point game of the season. Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Selton Miguel added 15 and 14 points with each shooting nearly 50% from the field, while Maryland’s 62 points in the paint marked the most of the Kevin Willard era.

Maryland jumped out to an 8-2 lead thanks to a pair of Julian Reese jumpers before a Ja’Kobi Gillespie steal led to a layup on the fastbreak. One minute later, Derik Queen drew an and-one opportunity to help push Maryland ahead, 10-4, through the first five minutes before the Illini offense answered with a 7-0 lead to take their first lead. But Maryland would attack the rim to quiet the crowd and thanks to Tomislav Ivisic’s absence, and it’d be the paint where Maryland would climb back to a seven-point lead after consecutive buckets at the rim from Derik Queen, Julian Reese and Selton Miguel kept Maryland ahead as the Terps controlled the paint.

In fact, that’s where Maryland’s focus was offensively after scoring 34 of their 38 first-half points in the paint with a clear emphasis to attack inside. And with Ivisic sidelined, Maryland had little to no hesitation doing so.

Maryland grew its lead to as many as ten midway heading into the final media timeout before the Illini closed the half on an 11-4 run over the final 3:21, taking a 38-35 Terps’ lead into the break.

A pair of jumpers from Reese and Miguel half gave Maryland its breathing room back to begin the second half, but the Illini would again trim the lead back to three twice in the opening three minutes. It marked the closest the Illini would get the rest of the night after the Baltimore tandem went on an 8-0 run to push Maryland back ahead by double-digits.

32 minutes into the game, Ja’Kobi Gillespie would hit Maryland’s first three to double the lead at the time before Rodney Rice added the second to push Maryland ahead, 66-56, with 8:24 left. Illinois would twice cut the lead back to single digits – first after Kylan Boswell’s layup with 7:49 left then again one minute later after Kasparas Jakucionis made a pair of free-throws with 6:48 left – but Maryland’s efficiency inside and at the free throw line gradually quieted the crowd inside the State Farm Center as the Terps’ pushed the lead to 20 with 2:43 left before securing the 21-point win.

Maryland will look to extend its win streak to three games when they take on Indiana on Sunday, Jan. 26 for a noon tipoff on CBS.

Related Links