Julian Reese led the Terps with 27 points and 17 rebounds.
Maryland men’s basketball entered Thursday night with an 0-4 away record and faced another challenging road game at No. 17 Illinois.
But about an hour before tip-off, the Terps received a huge break. Illinois’ second-leading scorer Tomislav Ivisic was ruled out with an illness.
Without the 7-footer, Julian Reese and Derik Queen dominated in the paint, combining for 52 points and 23 rebounds en route to a 91-70 win over the Fighting Illini at State Farm Center.
Reese set two new career highs with 27 points and 17 rebounds, while blocking three shots.
Maryland (15-5, 5-4 Big Ten) got whatever it wanted inside. It was just a matter of waiting for Illinois (13-6, 5-4) to break, which did not come quickly.
An 8-0 Illinois run nearly broke the Terps lead in the middle of the second half, but a deep Ja’Kobi Gillespie 3-pointer repositioned Maryland in firm control. While Reese and Queen spearheaded the Terps’ offense Thursday, Gillespie was key in combating multiple Illinois runs. He finished with 15 points, eight assists, three rebounds and three steals.
Illinois kept the deficit within 10 points until the final seven minutes, as Maryland eventually outlasted the Illini.
Led by Reese and Queen, Maryland outrebounded Illinois, 40-36, and scored 62 points in the paint compared to the Illini’s 34.
Both offenses got off to a slow start, though. Maryland started 6-of-18 from the field, while the Illini shot 5-of-16, including 1-of-6 from 3-point range.
But a timeout changed Maryland’s offensive approach and production. Head coach Kevin Willard pleaded to his huddled team to stop settling for jump shots and attack the paint. Gillespie immediately found Reese for a layup out of the timeout, which sparked a 14-6 Maryland run and extended the Terps’ lead to nine points.
Maryland had seemingly found its path to victory, but Illinois was not shaken easily. The Illini began chucking up threes, recognizing they needed to attack the Terps from the perimeter to combat Maryland’s efficiency. Illinois made three of its next nine 3-point attempts, one of which — shot by Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn — banked in from several feet behind the 3-point arc.
Gibbs-Lawhorn’s nine first-half points paced the Illini, who trailed by just three points at halftime despite the Terps shooting 46.2% from the field and outrebounding Illinois by three in the first half.
With Ivisic out, star freshman Kasparas Jakucionis took on even more responsibility and attention. After scoring the first points of the game on a crafty layup, all five pairs of Terps eyes were glued to Jakucionis whenever he handled the ball. He was often met by two or more defenders when driving into the paint and was hounded by Gillespie on the perimeter, who blocked Jakucionis and stole the ball from him in the opening three minutes.
But as a 6-foot-6 guard, Gillespie barely obstructed Jakucionis’ view, as he consistently found open defenders when faced with extra attention. He scored 21 points on 5-of-14 shooting from the field Thursday, and dished out seven assists as Illinois’ offensive engine.
Illinois could not overcome Ivisic’s absence on both ends of the floor, though, as Maryland coasted to a convincing victory.
Three things to know
1. Signs of improvement from Queen. After a poor and heavily criticized last two games, Queen found himself back in Terps fans good graces Thursday night, displaying increased effort on both ends of the floor. He finished the game with 25 points on 10-of-13 shooting, six rebounds, four assists and three steals, a performance better than his last two combined.
2. Maryland took care of the ball. After committing double-digit turnovers in each of the last eight games, including 16 against Northwestern and UCLA, the Terps gave the ball away just seven times Thursday. Meanwhile, Illinois committed 16 turnovers, which Maryland scored 27 points off.
3. Second ranked win. Thursday marked Maryland’s second win over a ranked team this season, first defeating then-No. 22 UCLA on Jan. 10. The Terps are now 2-3 against ranked opponents this year, and potentially have a chance to even that record at home against No. 18 Wisconsin Wednesday.