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Sometimes you want to make a quick pit stop, empty the bladder, grab a bag of salty snacks and limber up the limbs before hitting the open road again. For the fast-minded who enjoy simple $2 scratchers hoping to uncover the jackpot-winning image, here are quick thoughts and the lean on Maryland vs. Illinois.
Maryland (14-5, 4-4) at No. 17 Illinois (13-5, 5-3)
Date: Thursday, January 23
Time: 9 p.m. ET
TV: FS1
(UPDATE: Illinois starting center Tomislav Ivisic has been ruled out with step. Key contributors Will Riley and Tre White are also questionable.)
In this day and age of highly accessible quick opinions, one simple tweet can ruffle feathers and spark a steady stream of backlash.
See this doofus’s off-the-cuff remark during Sunday’s game between Illinois and Michigan State.
Credit to Sparty, but this Illinois team likely beats Michigan State 8 out of 10 times on a neutral floor.
— Brad Evans (@NoisyHuevos) January 19, 2025
The whistle in this game has been laughably egregious.
Angry mob triggered.
Spartans faithful will vehemently disagree, but multiple phantom whistles called on point guard extraordinaire Kasparas Jakucionis swayed the game. Thanks to a breakout first half from Will Riley and State’s usual exterior bricklaying, Illinois only lost 80-78 in East Lansing. However, “What could have been?” questions are completely warranted as the Illini's indispensable lead man played a whopping nine minutes.
A clearly disgruntled Brad Underwood appropriately expressed his disdain after the game.
But that’s firmly in the past. Projected to have a 65% or greater chance to win its next eight games, Illinois embarks on a favorable stretch, one that could have it nipping at Tom Izzo’s heels in short order.
Thursday’s matchup against Maryland, though, is far from an uncontested breakaway dunk.
The pick — Illinois -8.5 (-110, Caesars) (Now down to -5.5. Wow.)
For whatever random reason, Kevin Willard’s teams have given previous Illini iterations fits, even at the State Farm Center. Since 2019, the Terrapins are 6-2 straight up against Illinois, including a 76-67 triumph in Champaign last season.
This year’s Orange and Blue are a different animal. More of the predatory variety, they are explosive in nature.
According to EvanMiya, the Illini average the nation’s ninth-most killshots (runs of 10 or more points) per game at 1.11. In other words, massive demoralizing bombardments are the name of their game, as witnessed by crippling blitzes against Indiana and Penn State.
For the most part, both squads are trending in the same positive direction. On the season, both rank appreciably across the board with the Terps one of eight teams inside the top 55 in effective field-goal offense and effective field-goal defense. However, Illinois paces 33 spots higher than Maryland in BartTorvik’s overall power rankings in games played this month.
The Illini’s often suffocating defense (No. 4 in eFG D) and strong rebounding gives them a leg up. The Terrapins by no means guard lazily, but No. 200 or higher standings in offensive and defensive rebounding percentage imply Illinois could dominate the paint.
Maryland’s No. 216 status in 3-point percentage defense over its last six games is also problematic. Jakucionis, Ben Humrichous, Tomislav Ivisic, Riley and others could be lethal from distance.
In a game sure to be defined by runs — the Terps are also top-10 in killshots — the I-L-L's defensive efforts keep Julian Reese, Derik Queen and Ja’Kobi Gillespie mostly at arm’s length.
Sorry, haters.
Season record: 17-11, +5.87 units