NCAA Basketball: Best games from 2019-20 season – Maryland vs. Illinois

An early Big Ten battle lived up to the expectations as Illinois and Maryland faced off; let’s remember how it all happened.

While the national pandemic prematurely ended the college basketball season, there were still plenty of great moments to celebrate and remember. Though there’s no NCAA Tournament to pluck games from, we’ll be continuing our look at the 40 best games of the 2019-20 season, looking closely at an unexpected but fantastic conference game in the Big Ten.

35. #3 Maryland 59, Illinois 58

December 7, 2019, XFINITY Center in College Park, Maryland

Barely a month into the college basketball season, the Big Ten blessed us with an early week of conference games. Fitting in a 20-game slate of games necessitated these early December matchups, serving as a sneak peek to what would be college basketball’s tightest conference.

Among the games played during this week, Illinois’s trip to Maryland turned out to be one of the most exciting, even if it didn’t look that way on paper.

Maryland got their season off to a great start, entering at 9-0 and rising up to #3 in the rankings. They didn’t have any super impressive wins on their resume at this point, but had taken care of business against Temple and Marquette at the Orlando Invitational and had beaten Notre Dame just three days earlier. Anthony Cowan Jr. and Jalen Smith were both playing great ball and looked to be important pieces for the Terrapins’ success.

At Illinois, the expectations were certainly different for the program. Head coach Brad Underwood had brought in some great talent, including talented center Kofi Cockburn, but this program hadn’t been competitive in the Big Ten in nearly a decade. The Illini entered this game at 6-2, with a rough loss at Arizona and a tough loss at home to Miami just a few days earlier. They hoped to compete with the Terrapins, but this road game looked like a stark test.

Cockburn answered the test with a pair of buckets in the first two minutes, and it looked like Illinois wasn’t going to melt under the bright lights in Maryland. In fact, Illinois’s start was about as great as could be expected, as their defense locked down the Terrapins early on. An early 10-0 run gave the Illini an unexpected 13-point lead just eight minutes into the game.

Maryland had an answer, scoring the game’s next seven points. However, another long scoring drought followed, and a Trent Frazier 3-pointer gave the Illini their double-digit lead right back. The team’s traded points to end the first half, though a pair of jumpers from Andres Feliz gave the Illini a 14-point lead at halftime.

Two minutes into the second half, Illinois held a 15-point lead, leaving Maryland fans stunned in their Big Ten home debut. Fortunately for the Terrapins, they weren’t going away that easily. Cowan hit a 3-pointer and then three free throws after being fouled, slicing the lead back to single digits. Illinois still held a double-digit lead at the 10-minute mark, but Maryland’s defense came into the forefront, holding the Illini without a point for more than four minutes.

By the four-minute mark, Illinois’s lead was down to seven and Maryland wasn’t down. Smith hit a huge 3-pointer with just under three minutes left, but it wasn’t the biggest shot of the game. As Illinois failed to build on their lead, a Cowan 3-pointer with 21 seconds finally tied the game for the very first time.

Cowan’s heroics weren’t finished, as he forced a turnover from Feliz and was fouled. His free throw with two seconds on the clock was the deciding factor, giving Maryland the 1-point victory.

In a major hole for the majority of the game, Maryland completely stunned the Illini with the hard-fought comeback victory. Cowan’s star shone brightest, putting up 20 points, while Smith had 14 points and 13 rebounds in the win. Their defense came up with the stops late while the offense did what it needed to do to stay in the game and make the key shots at the end.

For Illinois, this was a heartbreaking ending to a dynamite performance for most of the night. This would’ve been an incredible sparkplug for Illinois’s season, but even so, this performance did give them increased confidence. Frazier led the way with 14 points, but the Illini made just 21% of their 3-pointers. The offense needed just a few more productive possessions earlier in the second half to put this game away, instead blowing a 15-point lead.

By season’s end, these were two of the best teams in a very deep Big Ten. Maryland tied for the regular-season title while Illinois settled for 4th place, just one game behind the Terrapins. A 9-game winning streak really ignited the Terrapins, including a big win at Illinois. The Illini won five of their final six games and put themselves in a great position moving forward.

Obviously, neither team got their chance to showcase their talent in the Big Ten Tournament or NCAA Tournament. Maryland will see a great transition, disappointed that Cowan and Smith didn’t get their chance to shine on the biggest stage. However, Illinois returns most of its roster and could be a top 10 team this upcoming year. The Big Ten is still going to be among the very best basketball in the country and it’ll be exciting to watch how these teams develop moving forward.