Jordan Geronimo stood at the top of the key defending against Marcus Domask who was two for three from behind the line. Geronimo rose up and rejected the shot, leaking out into transition. Young found Geronimo sitting in the dunker’s spot and fed him the ball. Geronimo threw down an aggressive dunk sending the Maryland bench into a frenzy.
Geronimo’s dunk provided the punctuation on Maryland’s, 76-67, upset victory over No. 10 Illinois, Sunday afternoon in Illinois. The win was Maryland’s first Big Ten road victory of the season and made them the first team in the Big Ten to beat a top-seven conference opponent on the road. It was also the team’s first Top 10 road win under head coach Kevin Willard.
Maryland has struggled away from Xfinity Center all year compiling a record of 1-5 away from College Park. The Terps only win away from home came in California when Jahmir Young’s career high 37 points powered the Terps to victory over UCLA.
Young led the way again scoring a team-high 28 points to go along with eight assists and one block. Julian Reese provided 20 points and 11 rebounds to help back up his point guard’s tremendous effort.
“I definitely felt a little bit disrespectful that you know, especially Hawkins being this kind of small defender more perimeter defender, I felt like a little disrespected,” said Reese. “So, we tried to go at him. I told the coach give me the ball and you see what happens.”
The Terps did most of their damage from the paint outscoring the Illini, 52-26 from inside. The Terps exploited a mismatch they found on film matching up Reese with senior forward, Coleman Hawkins.
“If they’re gonna play Coleman Hawkins at the five spot then we were just gonna just go inside and just kind of keep pounding it and pounding it,” said Willard. “Even if Ju [Reese], I mean Ju goes eight for 16, he gets 20 and 11, but even if on his missed shots were making him [Hawkins] defend. … that wears you out.”
Maryland did get some key contributions from three-point range from two unlikely sources down the stretch. Geronimo and DeShawn Harris-Smith knocked down their first three-pointers of the new year in the second half. Geronimo’s three turned Maryland’s lead into a two possession advantage and Harris-Smith’s corner three did the same with just four minutes left to play.
Maryland hung around throughout the first half despite a disappointing showing from beyond the arch, going two of their 12 attempts from three-point range. Maryland found success from inside the line outscoring the Illini, 26-14, in the paint. Maryland’s offense was the best it’s been in the first half of a conference game this season, scoring 37 points.
The Maryland defense played well despite going into halftime down, 39-37. The Terps forced six turnovers converting them into seven points. Maryland was aggressive on the offensive glass as well pulling down six offensive rebounds resulting in seven second chance points.
The Terps’ defense came out in the second half and immediately improved on their previous 20 minutes. Maryland’s defense held the Illini to nine points through the first eight plus minutes of the second half.
The defensive pressure continued through the rest of the second half. Maryland held Illinois to under 25% shooting in the second half. Illinois only made one three-pointer in the half after making five in the first half.
“Really proud of the defensive effort in the second half. I thought that was phenomenal holding this team to 33% and 28% is really good on the road,” said Willard.
The win brings Maryland back to .500 in conference play with a record of 3-3. The Terps will stay on the road for a conference contest against Northwestern on Wednesday.
