Maryland men’s basketball upset No. 10 Illinois, 76-67, on Jan. 14 at State Farm Center in Champaign, Ill., as graduate guard Jahmir Young and junior big man Julian Reese combined for 48 points to carry the Terps to their first road conference win of the season.
Maryland has now defeated Illinois three times in a row and 10 out of 12 times dating back to 2016.
The win marked just the second true road conference victory of the Kevin Willard era. However, it was a big one as Maryland hadn’t beaten an AP top-10 team on the road in more than three years. Furthermore, the top seven teams in the Big Ten standings were previously 19-0 in home games this season. Maryland became the first team to defeat a top-seven conference team on the road.
Maryland (11-6, 3-3 Big Ten) pulled off the upset by running the offense through Reese. He recorded his eighth double-double of the season, posting 20 points and 11 rebounds.
Reese was mostly matched up against 6-foot-10 forward Coleman Hawkins. Willard says he wanted to attack Hawkins down low with Reese despite Hawkins’ size advantage.
“If they’re going to play Coleman Hawkins at the five spot then we were just going to go inside,” Willard said. “Even on his missed shots, we were making him defend. We were hitting him, we were pounding him. That wears you out, dealing with a guy like Ju if you’re not really used to it. Our whole thing was, ‘Let’s get it inside to Ju early.'”
Hawkins has tremendous length but shines while defending on the perimeter. Knowing this, the Terps attacked him around the rim and scored at will. Maryland had a 52-26 advantage in the paint, a metric that Illinois usually dominates.
“I definitely felt a little bit disrespected, especially with Hawkins being this smaller defender, more perimeter defender,” Reese said about his mindset with the ball in his hands. “I felt a little bit disrespected so we tried to go at him. I told the coach to give me the ball and you see what happened.”
Reese continued his stellar performance on the defensive end. He blocked a shot and grabbed two steals. Hawkins ended up fouling out in the second half, finishing with eight points and seven rebounds while going 0-for-4 from three.
Maryland’s defense held Illinois to just 32.8 percent shooting from the floor for the game, including 6-of-22 from beyond the 3-point line. In the second half, Illinois shot 22.5 percent and went 1-of-12 on 3-pointers.
“Defensively I think in the second half we switched out post defense and it really helped us,” Willard said. “… Really proud of the defensive effort in the second half. I thought that was phenomenal. Holding this team to 33 percent and 28 percent is really good on the road.”
Young tallied a game-high 28 points and eight assists. He didn’t knock down a single 3-pointer but instead did his damage driving to the basket and at the charity stripe, where he was perfect.
Young’s 28 points were the second most he has had in a game this season. He also only turned the ball over twice during the contest. Maryland had just seven as a team, a season low.
Maryland continues its road stretch with a matchup at Northwestern on Jan. 17. Maryland is now looking to build on the performance at Illinois and continue putting its previous road struggles behind it.
“It’s definitely a good sign to see us win on the road and at home like we’ve been doing,” Reese said. “It’s definitely a good sign to a turnaround. Beating the No. 10 team in the country is definitely a good sign for us and it’s a good stepping stone for what’s to come.”
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Maryland Athletics