Solomon Washington was always going to have a difficult time Wednesday.
Maryland men’s basketball wasn’t just playing a game on the road against No. 11 Illinois. It was playing a game on the road against the No. 11 team that also happens to be the tallest team in Division I. The shortest Illinois starter stands at 6-foot-6. And Washington, at 6-foot-7, was responsible for protecting the rim.
Through five minutes, Washington did an admirable job fighting as an undersized center. But as he prepared to crash the boards from a Diggy Coit jumper, he was bounced by 7-foot-2 Zvonimir Ivišić into the arm of 7-foot-1 Tomislav Ivišić.
Referees called a flagrant foul upon review, and Coit made two free throws. That stretched the Maryland lead to four points — but being in the center of the Ivišić sandwich took Washington out of the game and gave Illinois the chance to warm up its offense.
The Terps were eventually crunched by the Illini, 89-70 — a fairly flattering scoreline, despite how much promise the visitors displayed early.
Maryland came out with a flurry of punches, hitting the Illini hard and fast.
The mountain men dared the Terps to try to beat them inside — and Maryland accepted the dare, going 6-of-6 inside the arc through the first five minutes of play to take an early 15-11 lead.
Bringing out Collin Metcalf without Washington on the floor was necessary to combat Illinois’ size in the frontcourt. However, compared to Washington, Metcalf is far less flexible as a defender. That allowed the Illini to spread the ball and dissect the defense.
The sheer size of Illinois made going inside on Maryland the obvious solution. Instead, the Illini obsessively shot from deep. Seventeen of Illinois’ first 22 shots came from 3-point range simply because it was working.
Maryland defenders shaded inside, clearly — and justifiably — afraid of giving the Illini opportunities on the backdoor cut. Any potential chance for a “free” basket in the paint was made freer by the mismatch. That hesitancy let Illinois create overloads on the wings, where quick picks had more room and were even more effective.
Guard Andrej Stojaković was the greatest beneficiary. The junior found his flow early, outdueling his primary matchup in Coit — who stands eight inches shorter — beyond the arc on both ends to score 11 of his team’s first 10 points.
It cannot be overstated how unexpected Stojaković’s burst was, though. He entered the game with 11 made 3-pointers and a 23.4% conversion rate — he had four 3-point makes on 57% shooting against Maryland.
The Terps weren’t going to stop the Illini; they simply had to keep pace. At first, they did fairly well at it. But over the last nine minutes of the first half, Illinois outscored Maryland 28-6, quickly putting the game out of reach.
After the break, Elijah Saunders, forced into an uncomfortable role due to the lack of frontcourt depth, finally found his place outside the arc. He drained a pair of 3-pointers that Maryland simply had to have.
It barely mattered at that point, though, as the Stojaković show could not be stopped. He reprised his role as the early-half spark, scoring 12 of Illinois’ first 15 points of the second frame. Maryland simply had no answer.
Illinois’ domination was made even more impressive by the absence of guard Kylan Boswell, the second-highest scorer on the team. The team announced he had broken a hand the day before, but the offense didn’t look like it was missing a gear at all.
Williams made moves in the second half that made dents in the lead. After being given just three minutes in the first half and only taking one shot, Andre Mills played nearly all of the second half and finished with a team-high 16 points. He was on a heater from deep, making four of five three-pointers.
Freshman guard Guillermo Del Pino, arguably the team’s best wing defender, appeared in the game with three minutes remaining for his first appearance in roughly a month.
It was far too little and far too late for Maryland, though, as the Terps suffered their seventh conference loss — more than they had all last season.
Three things to know
1. Shooters go cold — and stay on the court. Maryland needed a productive first half to give itself the belief that it could compete with the Illini for 40 minutes. The trio of Darius Adams, Coit and Saunders played exactly 50 of the 100 available minutes for Maryland players in that half. Saunders didn’t see the bench at all.
Those three players combined to shoot 7-of-23 in the first half, and they only had two points through the last 13:55 of that frame. They were clearly out of rhythm, but Williams, who is known for his deep benches as a coach, had no alternatives to turn to. Those players kept shooting and kept missing, digging Maryland into an insurmountable hole.
2. Absurd rebounding battle. Everybody who watched this game knew how the rebounding battle was going to go. However, the official rebounding tally was 47-31 in favor of the Illini, a fairly respectable difference. Many of the rebounds Maryland recovered were deep bounces, shots that nearly crossed back over the free throw stripe. Near the basket, Maryland rarely got close to the ball.
3. Ball security improving. Maryland has averaged over 13 turnovers per game on the season, something which has prevented it from staying in games late. And while Maryland was unable to stay close to Illinois, it was not the turnovers that doomed it — the Terps had just five, their fewest in a game this season.
