On Monday John Groce addressed his team’s last two games by saying, “We’re just not real good right now.”
Then, on Tuesday, he confirmed that Ray Rice was out for a long time (rumored to be 6 weeks) and “not real good” became “well, shit.” (I assume he said that at some point but I have no proof of such a quote, so play along with me.)
Against several opponents this season Illinois had played well below expectations. Now, with the team’s leader in almost every category on the sideline, Illinois is a team without expectation. There’s no NCAA Tourney in this team’s future, nor is there much hope in anything except playing spoiler. There will be time for optimism later, but life sucks while this Ray Rice-sized wound is fresh.
And yet, despite all the awfulness contained in the previous paragraphs, there’s no catching a break for Illinois right now. Tonight the #11 Maryland Terrapins (14-1, 2-0) roll into Champaign with a hot hand, already outperforming most expectations in their first year of Big Ten play.
The Terps success draws largely from the three-headed monster of Melo Trimble, Dez Wells, and Jake Layman. Seriously, these three are tearing it up:
Trimble: 16.2 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 3.0 apg
Wells: 14.9 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 3.3 apg
Layman: 14.7 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 1.6 apg
Add to that Maryland’s overall stifling defense (25th in adjusted defense per KenPom.com), and, well, Illinois is fucked. Maybe tune in just to see how good the Terps really are?
My prediction: Maryland 80 — Illinois 54
Tip-off is 8 p.m. and the game will be covered on the Big Ten Network.
