Under normal circumstances, the decibel level inside Illinois’ State Farm Center stays so high that courtside microphones have no chance to pick up anything players utter during the heat of a game.
But as the home crowd fell silent during Maryland’s 91-70 whipping of the 17th-ranked Illini Thursday night, you couldn’t help but hear a hearty cackle after several of the Terrapins’ late baskets.
Turns out that cackle belonged to ridiculously talented freshman big man Derik Queen.
“He’s a clown,” Maryland point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie told Hoops HQ with a smile. “He was just having fun.”
Queen was expressing what all the Terps were feeling as they clinched their first road win and most impressive win of the season. A group frustrated by its inability to break through on the road — losing by five at Purdue, by six at Washington, by four at Oregon and by two in overtime at Northwestern — suddenly felt like there were no more limits on its potential.
Buoyed by that win over Illinois, Maryland doubled down Sunday at Indiana. The Terps blew a ten-point second-half lead and trailed by four with 38 seconds left, but Rodney Rice swished a three-pointer with 7.5 seconds left to earn a 79-78 victory. Now Maryland is among the nation’s top 20 in both the NET and KenPom.
In three of their four Big Ten road losses, the Terps led by either three or five points at the half. Sure enough, Maryland led Illinois by three at the break. “I said, ‘We’ve just got to stay the course. No one sit there and be like, “Oh, we’re only up three,” ’ Maryland coach Kevin Willard said. “And I think Derik said it to me, ‘Coach, we’ve been up three.’ And I said, ‘I know. Eventually, it’s going to be a good number, DQ.’ ”
Maryland won because Queen and 6-foot-9 senior forward Julian Reese dominated inside against an Illini squad that didn’t have 7-foot-1 Tomislav Ivisic, who was out with mono. Illinois coach Brad Underwood believes refused to double team Reese and Queen so he could keep defenders close to Gillespie, Rice and Selton Miguel, who are shooting a combined 39.5 percent on threes this season. Given free reign inside, Reese responded with career highs in points (27) and rebounds (17) while Queen added 25 points as the Terps piled up 62 points in the paint. That’s the most for any Big Ten team all season.
But while Queen and Reese have earned most of the headlines and attention this year, Gillespie is da Terps’ real MVP — as DMV native Kevin Durant might put it. The 6-foot-1, 186-pound Tennessee native spent his first two seasons running the show at Belmont. After averaging 17.2 points, 4.2 assists and 2.2 steals last year and earning second-team all-Missouri Valley recognition, Gillespie threw his name into the transfer portal. He set up visits with Maryland, Oklahoma and Florida, but never made it to Norman and Gainesville because he liked his potential role with the Terps. He has turned out to be more than anybody could have expected
Gillespie averages 14.6 points, 4.7 assists and 1.9 steals per game while shooting 42.1 percent on threes and 88.1 percent at the line. To put those numbers into perspective, Gillespie entered Sunday’s win at Indiana ranked as EvanMiya.com’s 11th-best player in the country for his combination of offensive and defensive excellence.
“I definitely feel like I’m one of the best players in the country,” Gillespie said. “That’s just my confidence level. I’ve made the jump from Belmont and it’s been pretty easy because I’m playing with bigs like ‘Ju’ and Derik, two of the better bigs in the country. I feel like I’m in the perfect situation for me.”
But Gillespie rarely hears his name on Big Ten broadcasts when color analysts list the league’s best point guards. That’s why he was particularly eager to test himself Thursday night against Illinois freshman Kasparas Jakucionis, currently regarded as a Top 5 pick in the next NBA draft. Jakucionis finished with 21 points and seven assists, but shot 5 of 14 from the field and committed a season-high-tying seven turnovers.
“I think he took the point-guard matchup to heart,” Willard said. “I thought Ja’Kobi was great again.”
Of course, there are more challenges to come. Wisconsin visits Maryland Wednesday, then the Terps go to Ohio State (and Bruce Thornton) before welcoming Rutgers and high lottery pick Dylan Harper. But this program – and this coach – had been hearing a lot about its inability to win games on the road. It was nice, for one week at least, for the Terps to hear the silence.
Garcia and the Gophers are rolling
If you thought Dawson Garcia’s game-winning, buzzer-beating 40-footer on Jan. 16 against Michigan was a fluke, then you don’t know about the 6-foot-11 fifth-year senior forward’s standard shooting routine with assistant coach Dave Thorson.
Each workout, the 2020 McDonald’s All-American shoots eight “Dames,” the terminology the Gophers use when they practice the long-distance shots Damian Lillard made famous during his run in Portland. “You’ve got to make two ‘catch-and-shoot’ from that deep,” Garcia told Hoops HQ. “Then you go off the dribble and then you go off the run. It’s a variety of shots.”
When you watch the replay of Garcia’s buzzer-beater that got Minnesota off the Big Ten schneid, notice how the lefty was ready for the opportunity all along. As he crept upcourt, his body was turned toward teammate Lu’Cye Patterson and his hands up ready for a pass. When he finally got the ball and let it go, “I knew it was cash.”
For the shot to have come from Garcia, who attended Prior Lake High School 25 miles south of Williams Arena and played for Marquette and North Carolina before coming home to Minnesota for the last three years, it was perfect for a program that’s more provincial than any other in the Big Ten. Moments after hitting his shot, Garcia made a brief selfie video on the court where he proclaimed he wouldn’t have wanted to do it wearing any other jersey.
“I don’t think there’s probably a better person that could have had that moment,” Minnesota head coach Ben Johnson told Big Ten Network. “All the hard work. Everything he’s gone through in his time here. The different sacrifices he’s made. Just who he is as a young man and the leadership that he’s shown… he’s just a warrior and our team obviously thrives off of him.”
The victory over No. 20 Michigan sparked a three-game winning streak for the Gophers. They went into Iowa City on Tuesday and earned their first Big Ten road win in nearly a full calendar year. Then they bumped off No. 15 Oregon Saturday at home. Garcia scored a game-high 31 points, including an emphatic breakaway dunk in the final seconds that triggered a court storming by the students.
To celebrate, Garcia taped another on-court selfie with hundreds of schoolmates in the background.
Garcia ranks as the Big Ten’s No. 3 scorer (19.7 ppg) while averaging 7.4 rebounds and 1.1 blocks and shooting 50 percent from the field and 37.3 percent on threes. Can he and the Gophers keep rolling? They face their biggest test yet Tuesday when they travel to league-leading Michigan State — winners of 12 in a row.
“We’re just a hungry group that’s coming out playing with a chip on our shoulder every game,” Garcia said. “We don’t care about what anybody’s got to say about us. We’re excited to go out there and compete every day.”
Around the rim
- When you check out the Big Ten standings, you find Washington alone in the basement with a 1-8 league record. But before you write off the Huskies, consider a few facts:
From Jan. 2-24, Washington faced one of the most absurd seven-game stretches of any team in the country all season. The number in parentheses represents their opponents’ KenPom rating on the day they played: Maryland (17), Illinois (8), at Michigan State (10), at Michigan (10), Purdue (12), at Oregon (25) and UCLA (30).
“In the Big Ten, I don’t think it ever lightens up,” UW coach Danny Sprinkle told reporters after Friday’s five-point home loss to UCLA. “Sometimes we just get into, like, open-gym mode. You can’t do that. And when we do that, we look like bad players. We really do. And we’re not bad players.”
On the plus side for Washington, 6-foot-11, 253-pound fifth-year senior Franck Kepnang produced seven points, eight rebounds and two blocks in 21 minutes against UCLA in his first action since Nov. 9. Kepnang underwent a minor knee procedure that kept him out longer than anticipated, but his size, athleticism and energy made a noticeable difference. Expect him to regain his starting center job shortly, which will allow Great Osobor (15.3 ppg, 8.6 rpg, 3.4 apg) to move back to the four and take better advantage of his perimeter skills.
“I was able to play freely,” Kepnang said. “I can say this: It was a good thing to be out there and play with my teammates.” - The Aday Mara era has begun at UCLA. The 7-foot-3 sophomore from Spain just put together two magnificent efforts off the bench that changed the Bruins’ offensive capabilities and overall trajectory.
In UCLA’s first seven Big Ten games, Mara contributed 17 points in 51 minutes. But on Jan. 21 versus Wisconsin, Mara poured in a career-high 22 points in 21 minutes as the Bruins rallied to victory. He hit all seven of his shots from the field.
On Friday at Washington, when starter Tyler Bilodeau went out in the opening minutes with a rolled ankle, Mick Cronin fed the lanky Mara a career-high 30 minutes and he responded with 12 points, seven rebounds and a career-high five blocks. When UCLA needed huge buckets late, they went to Mara in the post twice in a row and he delivered.
“He’s just got to be confident and turn and score,” Cronin told reporters Friday night. “He’s going to shoot 50 percent — minimum — and I’ll take that every night. When you can’t tackle him…if you’ve got to play him straight up, he’s hard to stop. And you’re seeing it now.” - After missing essentially six full games, Indiana junior power forward Malik Reneau returned to action Wednesday at Northwestern. Sporting a right knee brace similar to those worn by offensive linemen, Reneau posted two points and three rebounds in 11 minutes. He missed all six of his field goal attempts and finished with a -11 plus/minus in the Hoosiers’ 79-70 loss.
Reneau returned to Indiana’s starting lineup Sunday against Maryland and looked less rusty, though still less than 100 percent. He posted 10 points and six rebounds in 24 minutes as he played little in the first half due to foul trouble.
“I thought Malik came on at the end and showed some fight, considering he hadn’t played a whole lot here as of late,” Indiana head coach Mike Woodson told reporters after Sunday’s 79-78 loss to Maryland. “So we’ve got to get him back in better condition.”
During Reneau’s absence, which left Oumar Ballo as Indiana’s lone big, there was plenty of debate whether the Hoosiers’ offense would flow better when they play four perimeter players and spread the floor. From a quantitative standpoint, Indiana stood 57th in KenPom when Reneau suffered his injury in the opening minute Jan. 2 versus Rutgers. During his absence, and with sharpshooter Luke Goode stepping in at the four spot, Indiana posted a 4-2 record yet saw its KenPom rating sag to 59. Now they’re 62nd after losing Sunday at home to Maryland. - Brad Underwood turned 61 in December and has shown no signs of slowing down. But one wonders whether he might be plotting a future as a league commissioner or TV executive based on his postgame tangent when Illinois lost 80-78 Jan. 19 at Michigan State.
“I wish the league would play 34 league games,” Underwood said. “Just play everybody twice and have a real league that plays everybody twice. Wouldn’t that be fun? You don’t think the fans in here didn’t enjoy that? How ‘bout the fans in Champaign? We get to have that game, too.”
Michigan State visits Illinois Feb. 15 in the Illini’s only Saturday night home game of the season. That figures to be the wildest scene in years at State Farm Center. - Michigan’s Danny Wolf finds himself in an unlikely funk as the Wolverines prepare for Monday’s home game versus Penn State. Wolf scored just four points in 40 minutes during the Wolverines’ 80-76 overtime win over Northwestern Jan. 19, then managed four more points in 25 minutes during Purdue’s 91-64 swamping of Michigan Friday night. The 7-foot junior canned just 1 of 14 field goals during those 65 minutes.
- Tom Izzo turns 70 on Thursday, but he might have only two candles on his cake. That’s because he owns 351 Big Ten wins, just two shy of Indiana’s Bob Knight for the league record. He can join Knight atop the list as soon as Saturday, when the Spartans play their first game since 1970 at USC.
Games to watch
UCLA at USC, Monday, 10 p.m. ET, FS1. The first Crosstown Showdown of the season pits two L.A. squads on the upswing. The Bruins and Trojans split their regular-season series each of the last three seasons, but Mick Cronin owns a 4-7 record against USC since arriving on the scene five years ago. Oh, did we mention this is Kobe Johnson’s homecoming game? After starting the last two seasons for USC, the versatile wing (8.0 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 3.1 apg, 1.4 spg) took a short portal ride to Westwood for his senior year.
Indiana at Purdue, Friday. 8 p.m. ET, FOX. The Hoosiers and Boilermakers are 3-3 since Mike Woodson came to Bloomington, but Matt Painter won the previous 12 before that. If the Hoosiers intend to start building an NCAA Tournament-worthy resume, this is the biggest opportunity remaining on their schedule. Ohio State jumped five spots in KenPom when it won at Purdue last week and an even bigger jump would await the Hoosiers — if they can win.
Michigan State at UCLA, Feb 4: 10 p.m. ET, Peacock. Remember when the Spartans and Bruins met as 11 seeds in the 2021 First Four…and UCLA’s win sparked an unlikely run to the Final Four? Well, this is the rematch as the Spartans wrap up their five-night road trip to L.A. Underrated fun fact: Both teams are deep and balanced enough that it’ll be cool to see Tom Izzo and Mick Cronin use their ten-deep rosters to counter each other’s moves.Michigan at Indiana, Feb. 8: ,1 p.m., CBS. Wolverines head coach Dusty May returns to his alma mater, where he served as a team manager for Bob Knight. He also grew up 20 miles southwest of Assembly Hall, so he’ll have a pile of family and friends there. Unless the Hoosiers pull off a big road win or two leading up to this game, there’s a strong chance the 17,000 other fans there also will be gazing adoringly at May and wishing he was their coach.