Illinois surrenders 88 points in a blowout loss just two nights before they’ll learn their seed and destination in the upcoming 2025 NCAA Tournament.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

March 14, 2025

INDIANAPOLIS — For the second time this season, Maryland delivered a blowout win against a seemingly defenseless Illinois squad.

The 88-65 margin on Friday night in the quarterfinals of the 2025 Big Ten Conference Tournament was two points wider than the 91-70 win for the Terrapins on Jan. 23 inside State Farm Center.

The 57 points Maryland (25-7) posted in the first half of this contest is the most surrendered by an Illinois squad led by head coach Brad Underwood since Iowa scored 61 in the second half of a 96-87 win for the Hawkeyes in the first round of the 2018 Big Ten Tournament.

Maryland shot 8 of 14 from beyond the three-point arc in a first half where they didn’t record a single turnover. Illinois (21-12) found itself down 29-10 in the first nine and half minutes of play and simply never recovered to make this contest anything other than a runaway for Maryland.

The 91 and the 88 points scored in the two games by Maryland against Illinois are the second and fourth-most they’ve recorded against a Big Ten Conference opponent in this 2024-25 season.

In both Maryland-Illinois games played this season, Illini first-year center Tomislav Ivisic was never a factor. A mononucleosis diagnosis kept the 7-foot Croatian from being active for the matchup in Champaign and Ivisic received two fouls in the first four and a half minutes and recorded his third foul with eight minutes and 52 seconds remaining in the first half. Ivisc ended the evening with just four points and six rebounds in 16 minutes while Maryland racked up 30 points in the paint.

“The score. We’re getting beat. The score. It’s really simple,” Underwood said in his first-half Big Ten Network in-game interview when sideline reporter Andy Katz asked the Illini head coach why he put Ivisic back in the game with two fouls. “You got to play your best players and who brought you to the dance. We opened the game with two silly turnovers and then we haven’t guarded them. That’s why we’re down.”

With Ivisic’s foul trouble rendering him a non-factor, Maryland freshman center Derik Queen posted 19 points and 10 rebounds in just 23 minutes where the former five-star prospect rested on the bench for the final six minutes and 52 seconds.

Just 24 hours away from allowing Iowa’s Payton Sandfort tie the Big Ten Tournament record with eight three-point baskets in the Illini’s 106-94 win in second round action, Illinois’ perimeter defense watched Maryland guard Rodney Rice nail seven three-pointers. Rice, a transfer from Virginia Tech, ended with 26 points in 25 minutes as he watched the final 12 minutes and 13 seconds next to Terrapins head coach Kevin Willard.

“I haven’t had one of these in a while. Illinois is really good but I felt like with the amount of points that was scored in their game last night, they made a lot trips up and down just 24 hours ago,” Willard said in his post-game interview on Big Ten Network. “So, I felt like we needed to hit them first and I was pleased with the way we just never them get any kind of confidence.”

None of the Maryland starting five played more than 25 minutes as they’ll play the winner of Purdue-Michigan in the semifinal round on Saturday afternoon.

Illinois finished this contest with just 23 field goals and 17 turnovers as the Illini were 6 of 27 from three-point range. Illinois freshman guard Kasparas Jakucionis, who has been projected as a lottery selection in the upcoming 2025 National Basketball Association Draft, ended Big Ten Tournament play with a total of 12 turnovers (six in each game) as he finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

Illinois will now make the 124-mile trip home to Champaign-Urbana and wait until Sunday to see their seed and where they’re headed for the upcoming 2025 NCAA Tournament.