INDIANAPOLIS — Two nights, two totally different teams.
The Illinois Fighting Illini saw their run for another Big Ten Tournament championship end in Friday’s quarterfinals with an 88-65 loss to second-seeded Maryland Terrapins at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Quite a bit different than the second-round victory for Illinois over Iowa 106-94 on Thursday night.
“Mentally, we knew this wasn’t going to be Iowa,’’ Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. “We let Rodney Rice cook us in the first half, very disappointing. I was really disappointed in our defense on the perimeter.’’
Rice scored 18 of his game-high 26 points in the first half and he was 7-of-9 from 3-point range.
“I was good with letting (Julian) Reese and (Derik) Quick try to score 2s — its not what makes them great,’’ said Underwood as that inside duo combined for 29 points. “What makes this Maryland team great is when they are hitting 3-pointers.’’
Not only did Rice had seven 3-pointers, but Maryland finished 11-of-23 from behind the arc.
“We were flat, very lethargic with not much energy — that’s on me,’’ Underwood said. “Getting these guys ready to play and understand the urgency.
“Next time, when you lose, you go home. Hopefully, we learned a lot from Maryland today.’’
Illinois junior guard Kylan Boswell, who had 14 points but was 0-for-7 from 3-point range, acknowledge that the Illini (21-12) was lacking the necessary energy.
“Next time, we step on the court, we have to pick up all of our energy as a team,’’ he said. “It wasn’t go our way and we made some carless mistakes. We just didn’t make the right decisions.’’
The Illini committed 17 turnovers in the contest, which led directly to 22 points for the Terrapins.
“Every little thing matters,’’ said freshman guard Kasparas Jakucionis, who had six of his team’s 17 turnovers. “It’s the importance of every detail in the game — it will be the same in the NCAA Tournament.’’
Jakucionis finished with a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds, while Will Riley also had a team-high 15 points for Illinois.
Joining Rice in double figures for Maryland was Queen with 19, Ja’Kobi Gillespie had 12 and Reese finished with 10. Queen also had a team-high 10 rebounds, while Gillespie had a game-high nine assists.
Maryland will play either Purdue or Michigan in Saturday’s semifinals. The Boilermakers and the Wolverines were still playing at press time.
Illinois is expected to make the NCAA Tournament and the Illini will learn their seed and destination Sunday evening.
Illinois 106 Iowa 94
INDIANAPOLIS — Boswell scored a career-high 24 points and four other Illinois starters finished in double figures as the Illini dismantled the Iowa Hawkeyes in second-round game.
Other starters in double digits for Illinois were Tre White (22), Will Riley (21), Tomislav Ivisic (19) and Jakucionis had 10. Iviisic also had a game-high 10 rebounds in the victory.
Iowa coach Fran McCaffery, who was fired on Friday, was ejected in the second half after picking up two technical fouls as he disputed multiple calls with the Big Ten officials.
Senior guard Payton Sandford equaled the single-game tourney record with eight 3s and tied his career high with 30 points.