Fear The Turtle: Maryland Zones In On Comeback Win At Illinois

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Maryland walked into State Farm Center with the been there, done that attitude to a consequential game with implications. Illinois simply hasn’t been there and done that consistently.

And it showed Friday night.

The No. 9 Terrapins, who have four top-five finishes in the Big Ten Conference in five seasons since joining the league, dominated the final 20 minutes of action on the way to a 75-66 road victory to take over the conference lead with one month to play.

Illinois, which hasn’t finished higher than 10th in the league standings in the last two seasons under head coach Brad Underwood, has now been swept in the season series against Maryland in two of the three years. Maryland now has the Big Ten Conference lead with a combined 11 Quad 1 and Quad 2 victories according to the latest NET rankings.

“It’s real simple. We’re hitting a few more shots, we’re turning it over less and we’re really good defensively when we’re locked in,” Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon said. “Obviously we’ve been through that so many times that it’s nothing to us. When you’ve done it as many times as we have with this group, when you’re down 14 with 30 minutes to play, that’s not a lot.”

Friday night's matchup is the third time Maryland has come back to win when behind by 14 points or more in a game this season.

Illinois (16-7, 8-4 in Big Ten) went through a six-minute stretch in the second half without scoring, turning a two-point halftime lead into a double-digit deficit that was just too big to climb out of against a Top 10 opponent.

For the second straight game, Illinois struggled with a match-up zone defense as it hit just 2-of-9 three-point attempts in the second half. Illinois missed 10 of 24 free throw attempts and saw its interior duo of Kofi Cockburn and Giorgi Bezhanishvili go 2-of-9 from the field.

“The zone was a big adjustment and we struggled to find ways to score out of it,” Illinois guard Alan Griffin said.

In a similar fashion to the loss in Iowa City, Maryland’s zone slowed down Illinois’ transition game and actually outscored the Illini 21-3 in fast-break points.

"You can't miss free throws against the 8th-ranked team in the country in order to win,” Underwood said. “I'll take 24 (free throw) attempts in a 60-possession game but you can't miss 10."

Friday night’s escapade at State Farm Center represented the difference between Maryland having a seen-it-before attitude, as the Terrapins (19-4, 9-4) came back to win their eighth game after trailing by as many as eight points this season. Maryland trailed by as many as 14 with 11 minutes and seven seconds left in the first half as the sold-out crowd went bonkers early.

“I know they worked on it (and) I heard the pre-game show on how they knew we’d play zone but quite frankly, we don’t do it often and we haven’t been very good at it,” Turgeon said. “Sometimes to win you got to be good and you got to be lucky.”

Anthony Cowan, a four-year starter who is putting together a potential first-team All-Big Ten resume this season, had a game-high 20 points and seven assists while fighting through foul trouble the entire evening. On the flip side, Illinois star guard Ayo Dosunmu struggled to a 5 of 17 shooting evening while ending with a team-high 16 points. Trent Frazier, Cowan’s perimeter counterpart, struggled to find any offensive rhythm through foul trouble and ended with a season-low three points for the Illini on just four field-goal attempts.

Maryland actually hit 60 percent of its shots in the first half, where the Terps found themselves down two points due to turnovers and Jalen Smith’s inability to find any offense. Andres Feliz had 12 points and seven rebounds but was a minus-17 in his 29 minutes of action Friday night.

Illinois will now take a two-game losing streak into a critical conference game as it hosts Michigan State Tuesday night (8 p.m., ESPN) for a battle between two teams tied for second in the league standings.

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