Maryland Men's Basketball Vs. Illinois Preview
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Fresh off a much-needed victory on Sunday afternoon in front of their home crowd against the Penn State Nittany Lions and their first conference win, the Terps return to the floor tomorrow evening, playing host to No. 11 Illinois.
The Terps (8-10, 1-6 Big Ten) will look to make it two straight conference wins in hopes of pulling off an upset against the Fighting Illini (15-3, 6-1 Big Ten), who have won their past seven games, including a close victory against Iowa, where they starved off a late comeback attempt.
Big Ten Co-Player of the Week, David "Diggy" Coit will look to keep the hot hand going after a career-showing day scoring 43 points in the victory Sunday.
Time to take a look at the Fighting Illini....
Game Details:
When: Wednesday, January 21st
Where: Xfinity Center, College Park, Maryland
Tipoff: 7 p.m.
How to watch: Big Ten Network
Illinois Key Stats
Record: 15-3 (6-1 Big Ten)
Head Coach: Brad Underwood
Leading Scorer: Keaton Wagler- 16.1 points
Leading Rebounder: David Mirkovic- 8.3 rebounds (5.8 DRPG & 2.6 ORPG)
Leader in Assists: Keaton Wagler- 3.8 assists
Team Points Per Game: 85.1 (43rd nationally)
Team Scoring Defense: 67.4 (41st nationally)
Team Free Throw %: 80.4 (2nd nationally)
Offensive Rating: 129.7 (3rd nationally)
Illinois is favored by 19.5 points over Maryland according to DraftKings.
Players To Watch
Illinois Forward David Mirkovic
Mirkovic is a double-double threat; he's had a dominant 27-point & 21 rebound double-double earlier in the season in a victory against Colgate. He is also a physical player with an incredible IQ that allows him to read the floor well and shoot from behind the arc at 37.7%.
Maryland Guard David Coit
Is it cliché to say "Diggy" once again? I think not. Coit is coming off a career- and program-changing performance, dropping 43 points on 14-of-23 shooting from the field and 9-of-15 from the three-point line. The Terps will need Coit's scoring and space-creating to lead them and open up shots and lanes for his teammates.
History vs. Illinois
The Terps lead the all-time head-to-head series 17-8 ahead of the 26th meeting. Maryland has won the past two meetings, both last season: once in the Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals and once on the road in the regular season. Maryland is 7-2 at Xfinity Center against Illinois.
Final Take
Maryland has closed the winless in-conference play demons. They will now shift their focus to court continuity and stacking wins to try to catch up in the Big Ten standings. No. 11 Illinois will be a challenging task, as they sport a great cast of players on their roster, with five double-figure scorers each night.
Defense to offense will be key in a matchup like this: getting stops and forcing turnovers that lead to easy transition buckets.
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Jaden's sports journalism career began at the College of Southern Maryland from 2022-2023, where he was brought in to cover baseball, softball, basketball, soccer, and volleyball at CSM. In late 2023, he began interning at the University of Maryland Athletics Department as a contributing writer to help develop feature stories and game recaps. He also creates his own sports media content on professional Washington teams with LegacyMaker Sports Network.