By PATRICK STEVENS Associated Press
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 27 points and No. 14 Illinois beat Maryland 85-80 on Saturday to earn its first road victory against the Terrapins since 2011.
Jahmir Young had 28 points to lead Maryland, which was 10-3 against the Illini since entering the Big Ten in 2014-15 and defeated Illinois 76-67 in the teams’ first meeting Jan. 14.
“There’s no question everybody knows they’ve kind of had our number the past years,” Illinois guard Marcus Domask said. “To come in here on the road in a hostile environment, and I know they had some stuff for their students. I know they were excited for this one but to come in here and get the win means a lot.”
Domask had 19 points for the Illini (19-6, 10-4 Big Ten), putting him over 2,000 points for his career, including four seasons at Southern Illinois. He has 2,004 points and is one of four active Big Ten players with 2,000, including Young, Northwestern’s Boo Buie and Purdue’s Zach Edey.
Maryland (14-12, 6-9) wore throwback 1970s-style uniforms to honor former coach Lefty Driesell, who died Saturday at 92. The school held a moment of silence for Driesell, who won 348 games with the Terps from 1969 to 1986 and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018.
Illinois led for almost the entire second half, though Maryland briefly tied it at 68. The Terps’ best chance to take the lead came when Young collected a tipped rebound on the perimeter with Illinois up 74-73 and sped to the other end of the court. But his shot attempt was well defended by Domask, and Justin Harmon found Coleman Hawkins in transition for a layup while getting fouled with 2:55 remaining.
“Those are plays that send you home in the NCAA tournament …,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. “Those are plays that veterans make. We talk a lot about those. Those are plays you need to be able to make down the stretch in the last third of the season.”
Hawkins made the free throw, and Maryland never got within a possession again until Jahari Long hit a 3-pointer with 10.2 seconds left. But Shannon made four free throws in the closing seconds as the Illini ended a five-game slide in College Park.
“It’s finally nice I can check this one off, the only place (in the Big Ten) I hadn’t won was here,” Underwood said. “It feels good to be able to do that.”
Underwood credited Shannon for his work guarding Young in the closing minutes. Young had missed 7 of 8 field-goal attempts before a late putback for Maryland’s final basket.
“I think Jahmir got fouled about 12 times and didn’t get a call,” Maryland coach Kevin Willard said. “I think if we’re calling fouls down at one end, it’s got to be the same way. He did a good job, but you’ve got to call it the same way.”
Illinois was 32 of 36 at the free-throw line, while Maryland was 24 of 29 in a game that featured 47 fouls.
BIG PICTURE
Illinois: The Illini are solidly in second place in the Big Ten, two games behind Purdue and two games up in the loss column on Wisconsin, Michigan State and Northwestern. Illinois improved to 4-3 in conference road games.
Maryland: The Terrapins didn’t lose a conference home game last year in Willard’s debut season. But this loss dropped Maryland to 4-4 at home in the Big Ten this year and was a hit to the team’s faint NCAA tournament hopes.
UP NEXT
Illinois visits Penn State on Wednesday.
Maryland begins a two-game road trip Tuesday night at No. 20 Wisconsin.
