No. 2 Seed Maryland men’s basketball roars after Illinois No. 7, 88-65, in the Big Ten tournament
Kevin Willard, head coach of Maryland Herren, carefully replied when he was asked for her first big ten tournament after the break of the Terps between her regular season finale.
“We weren’t good when we stopped by Byes, thank you (for reminding me),” he said. “I wanted to have a beer, now I’ll switch to whiskey.”
Well, every concern of Willard was reduced in early Friday. Maryland shot 8 out of 14 (57.1%) of three, corrected nine offensive rebounds and confiscated no turnover on the way to a 26-point half. The terps didn’t have to do much in the second half and drove to an 88-65 victory against Illinois No. 7 in Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
For the first time since 2015-16, Maryland will rise to the Big Ten tournament semi-final, where you will record Michigan with 3-seed seeds.
The performance of the terps was particularly impressive in the offensive end, especially in view of their recent fights. In the previous four games, Maryland scored an average of 67 points per game at 37.7%. In the first half Friday it scored 57 points.
Much of the production of the terp came from beyond the arch; The TERPS shot 42.3% from the field and 47.8% in the game. Rodney Rice in particular was hot with 18 points in the first half, 15 of which came. Nothing embodied the game up to this point more than as a big ten Network showed a young Illini fan who cried in the stands after Rice met one and 1 three with 8:27 in the first half.
Even with almost 30 minutes, the winner seemed to be decided.
Illinois 7-foot 1 center Tomislav Ivisic had early difficulties. He took two fouls almost four minutes after the game, but when Maryland suddenly led 14 points, Illinois head coach Brad Underwood sent him back into play after a short stay at the bench. Less than four minutes later, Ivisic committed his third foul.
While Ivisic’s absence certainly had an impact on the game, nobody could have stopped the terps. Even Jordan Geronimo took a three; He scored 1 out of 5 in regular season.
A lot was made from Maryland’s depth throughout the season, with some indicating bank production than the reason why it will ultimately lose in the late season. However, the unit cited by Geronimo put together one of the best games of the season against Illinois. Geronimo scored 11 points of the first time that a banker scored double-digit points since he scored 10 against Washington on January 2.
Tafara Gapare contributed four points and two blocks in the rare season, while Deshawn Harris-Smith and Jaylon Young were combined for seven rebounds and three assists.
The defense of the terps was also impressive. Illinois was fresh on Thursday of 106 points against Iowa, but only shot 36.5% out of the field and 22.2% against Maryland, while he had celebrated 17 sales. Geronimo recorded five of Maryland’s 12 steals and one of his five blocks.
With 6:52, Willard remained all five starters from the ground and used his bank, who were more able to secure the 23-point victory.
Three things to know
1. Rice turned out to be a point. During the media availability of the media, Rice said that he had a chip on his shoulder that entered the Big Ten tournament after leaving every All-Conference team this season. It certainly looked like Friday, when he played with a game with a game with 26 points that he has achieved since the second game of the season-Beim 8-of-12 shooting from the field and 7-of-9 shooting from three.
2. Ivisic made no difference. Maryland’s 21-point victory against Illinois in January had an asterisk next to it because Ivisic did not play due to an illness. The Terps doubled their dominance of the Illini on Friday and beat them with a wider lead.
In bad difficulties for a large part of the game, Ivisic only played 16 minutes and scored four points, six rebounds and one block.
3. Maryland took care of the ball. The terps only contested sales in the second half and ended the game with only three, the lowest total number of the season. Maryland hired a high season high of 18 sales against the northwest on Saturday, but set up these mistakes on Friday.
