Loading your audio article
INDIANAPOLIS — That Big Ten Tournament semifinal drought for Maryland men’s basketball is no more.
Brandishing their highest seeding in the league tournament since their debut in 2015, the No. 2 seed Terps lived up to the weight of lofty expectations and thoroughly dumped No. 7 seed Illinois, 88-65, in a quarterfinal Friday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
The outcome ended what had been a dispiriting history for Maryland (25-7). After advancing to the Big Ten Tournament semifinals in 2015 and 2016, the program had lost in the quarterfinals in 2017, 2021 and 2023 by an average of 10.3 points.
Now the Terps, who collected their eighth victory in their past nine games and 12th in the past 14, can bask in knowing that their opponent in Saturday’s semifinal at approximately 3:30 p.m. — No. 3 seed Michigan (23-9), an 86-68 winner over No. 6 seed Purdue (22-11) in the quarterfinal after Maryland’s win — will have less time to recover physically than they do.
Coach Kevin Willard was pleased to see the team sprint to a 57-31 advantage at halftime and show little effects from an extended break that had plagued it at times this season.
“Anytime you’re up 26 at halftime, you must have done something right,” he said. “I thought we came out very focused and really understood what we wanted to do with the game plan. And the second time you play someone, you have a better feel for them.”
The Terps’ outburst was fueled by a first half in which they torched the nets for 57 points — a school high in a Big Ten or Atlantic Coast Conference tournament game — and did not commit a single turnover. They built a lead that reached as high as 36 at 84-48 with 9:41 to go in regulation before settling for the 23-point margin.
Sophomore shooting guard Rodney Rice scored 18 of his 26 points in the first 20 minutes, including a 5 of 6 outing from 3-point range that tied his career high in 3-pointers. The 26 points ties a program record in a Big Ten Tournament game set by Jake Layman in a 97-86 victory over Nebraska in 2016, and Rice’s 7-for-9 display from long distance established a school mark for 3-pointers in any league tournament game.
For a 2:34 stretch of the first half, Rice scored 11 of Maryland’s 13 points, including four consecutive 3-pointers that ballooned the team’s lead from 9-4 to 22-10. He missed his first 3-point shot in five attempts with 12:05 to go in a performance that would seem to scold the voters who left Rice out of the Big Ten season accolades announced Tuesday.
Rice, who acknowledged that the snub served as motivation, said he was confident in his shooting stroke early in the game.
“It was probably the first three,” he said. “It just felt good leaving my hand, and that’s what the rest of them felt like. So it was definitely a good night.”
Freshman center Derik Queen lodged his 14th double-double of the season on 19 points and 10 rebounds and stole the ball twice, and junior point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie scored all 12 of his points in the first half and dished out nine assists — another school record in a Big Ten Tournament game. Senior power forward Julian Reese racked up 10 points and five rebounds.
The Terps also got some surprising returns from their bench. Fifth-year senior small forward Jordan Geronimo’s 11 points (nine in the first half) set a career high in a league tournament game and were the most by a reserve since junior power forward Tafara Gapare scored 12 in an 83-59 romp over Ohio State on Dec. 4. Geronimo’s showing — which included five steals and five rebounds — helped fuel a bench that outscored the Fighting Illini, 15-9, for its most productive outing in a Big Ten game this season.
“It feels great to be able to contribute and to be able to help my team win,” said Geronimo, who had played at Indiana for three years before transferring before the 2023-24 season. “I trust my teammates to find me, and that’s what they did. They trust me with the ball, and I was able to put it in the rim.”
Freshman point guard Kasparas Jakucionis’ 15 points, 10 rebounds and four assists paced Illinois (21-12). The team also got 14 points and three rebounds from junior shooting guard Kylan Boswell and 10 points and seven rebounds from freshman power forward Will Riley.
But last year’s tournament champion failed to avenge a 91-70 setback to the Terps on Jan. 23 that was played without 7-foot-1, 255-pound sophomore center Tomislav Ivisic. The result also ended a four-game winning streak.
Ivisic was supposed to patrol the middle against the Maryland interior duo of Queen, the Baltimore resident who was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year and a first-team All-Big Ten selection, and Reese, the Randallstown native and St. Frances graduate who was an honorable mention.
But Ivisic picked up his second foul less than five minutes into the game and then his third with 8:52 left in the first half. A fourth foul less than two minutes into the second half sent Ivisic to the bench again, where he finished with just four points and six rebounds.
The Terps made a favorable impression with Fighting Illini coach Brad Underwood.
“They’re pretty good. Whipped our butts in every facet,” he said. “I think we have a lot to learn from a team like them. It was probably my fault for not doing a good enough job to get these guys mentally dialed in to understanding what this was going to be. It wasn’t going to be Iowa. It wasn’t going to be free and easy. We let Rodney Rice cook us in the first half. Very disappointing. I was really disappointed in our defense on the perimeter.”
Illinois also turned the ball over 17 times, which Maryland converted into 22 points. The Terps finished with a season-low three turnovers.
“That might have been our best of the season,” Rice said. “That’s a great job by us. We’ve got to do that moving forward, too.”
Have a news tip? Contact Edward Lee at eklee@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/EdwardLeeSun.
Big Ten Tournament semifinals
No. 11 Maryland vs. No. 22 Michigan
At Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Indianapolis
Saturday, approximately 3:30 p.m.
TV: CBS
Radio: 105.7 FM
