Preview: Maryland basketball set for first ranked road matchup of Big Ten play vs. Illinois

Ahmed Ghafir
14 hours ago
2 min read

Maryland (8-10, 1-6 B1G) at No. 11 Illinois (15-3, 6-1 B1G)

When & Where: January 21, 2026 | 7 PM

TV: BTN | Chris Vosters (pxp), Jordan Taylor (analyst)

Radio: One Maryland App | 105.7 FM (Baltimore) | 980 AM (DC) | SiriusXM channel 384

Betting: Maryland +18.5 | O/U: 149.5

Maryland men's basketball is coming off its first Big Ten win of the season and first in January, and now, they'll look for a miracle to pull off the road upset. Of course, they'll do so in a place where Maryland has historically had success pulling off the upset.

Maryland has won 12 of the last 15 games in the series including six of the last seven in Champaign after blowing out the Illini by over 20 points in each of the last two matchups.

Star center Pharrel Payne is still not expected to be made available on Wednesday, though, to pose a challenge in Maryland's efforts on the road. Still, they'll look for Diggy Coit to lead them once again after his 43-point performance vs. Penn State set the senior point guard up to earn his second National Player of the Week honors this season, but whether he's able to get support from his supporting cast is the next question.

Meanwhile, Illinois is coming off a ten-point win against Minnesota on Saturday for their seventh consecutive win, including a six-point road win over 19th-ranked Iowa ten days ago. Freshman guard Keaton Wagler, averaging over 18 points over his last ten games, enters Wednesday's matchup as the team's leading scorer and one of five players averaging double figures.

Junior guard Andrej Stojakovic is fresh off his 1000th career point in the win vs. Minnesota while David Mirkovic turned heads earlier this season after posting a 27 point, 21 rebound double-double in an early non-conference win vs. Colgate. Tomislav Ivisic returns as a sharpshooting threat at center while senior guard Kylan Boswell averages over 14 points off the bench.

Wednesday marks the first of three consecutive matchups against ranked opponents with tenth-ranked Michigan State set for Saturday and fourth-ranked Purdue the following Sunday, Feb. 1 at home.

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