By Emily Olsen

After climbing the ranks of the NCAA AP Poll and reaching 11th, the Terps fell to Illinois, 64-57, Wednesday night in their first conference loss of the season.

The Terps had won 14 games this season and appeared to be near untouchable going into Wednesday night’s game, but ultimately fell to an Illinois team who was without its leading scorer Rayvonte Rice.

The Terps managed to limp into halftime with a two-point 28-26 lead, but were outplayed in the second half.

With 17:06 minutes left to play in the game, Illinois’ Malcolm Hill sunk a three-point jumper to give Illinois a lead that they would keep for the remainder of the game. Turnovers and missed shots by Maryland allowed Illinois to take the victory.

Freshman guard Melo Trimble led Maryland in scoring with 17 points and 5 rebounds. Forward Jake Layman was the only other Terp to score a double-digit point total with 10 points and 4 rebounds. The Terps lacked a strong offensive attack against Illinois.

Maryland hits the road again Saturday when they face Purdue at 2:30pm.