Maryland outclasses Illinois in Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals

INDIANAPOLIS — Well, that was terrible.

Twenty-four hours after a historic scoring output in a 106-94 win over Iowa, No. 7 Illinois struggled mightily on both ends of the court in a 88-65 thrashing at the hands of No. 2 Maryland in the Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals. The Illini’s four-game win streak came to an end against one of the conference foes it can never seem to figure out, and now Brad Underwood’s team looks ahead to Selection Sunday and the NCAA Tournament.

“My hat’s off to Maryland,” Underwood said. “Pretty good. They’re pretty good. Whooped our butt in every facet. And I think we have a lot we can learn from a team like them.”

From the opening tip, nothing went Illinois’ way. The first two possessions ended with turnovers — Kylan Boswell traveling and Kasparas Jakucionis throwing it away — and the Illini’s first four points came from the charity stripe.

But Illinois didn’t have any success from just about anywhere on the floor, shooting 23-of-63 from the field, including 6-of-27 from three. Friday’s score wasn’t really all that close, but Illinois finished the game on a 8-0 run, which included a pair of those threes.

But the big story was Maryland’s explosive offense, rivaling what we saw Thursday night from Illinois at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Rodney Rice finished with 26 points (7-of-9 from three) in 25 minutes, and Derik Queen (the Big Ten’s Freshman of the Year) had no issues in the paint, where Illinois’ Tomislav Ivisic picked up three early fouls and spent a majority of the first half riding the bench.

“We let Rice cook us in the first half,” Underwood said. “I was really disappointed in our defense on the perimeter.”

Notably, it’s not the first such blowout loss for Illinois this season. Less than a month ago, the Illini suffered their worst loss in program history — a 43-point defeat to Duke — and it sparked the recent winning streak and a revitalized offensive and defensive effort.

“Our effort and energy went up after the Duke game,” Jakucionis said. “I believe and hope that after this loss we will get at it in practice, especially on the defensive end.”

Let’s see if there can be a similar change occurring with less than a week until the start of the NCAA Tournament, where Illinois will find itself for the fifth consecutive season.

“I feel confident in us, always,” Boswell said. “Get a couple days of rest, get back on our feet, and get back at it with the right mentality.”

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Morez looked a lot more like himself than he did Thursday, when he made his return from a broken wrist.

TWEET OF THE GAME

OH, BY THE WAY

Did you see Iowa canned Fran McCaffery?

His final moment as the Hawkeyes’ head coach will be an ejection in the second half of a loss to Illinois.

“For me, personally with Fran, you think about the battles we’ve had,” Underwood said. “They’ve been epic. You always remember those. I know Fran personally and I know how good of a person he is. He’s had an unbelievable run, career.”

UP NEXT

Selection Sunday.

We’ll be here.