Anyone who might not have seen Maryland’s win over Illinois in Friday night’s Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal could have learned a lot about what happened by paying attention to one part of the postgame press conference.
After the Terrapins’ 88-65 win, Maryland players Rodney Rice and Jordan Geronimo and coach Kevin Willard entered the press room to take questions. It started with Willard giving a statement, then Rice and Geronimo fielded questions. Five minutes in, the two players left and the rest of the questions were directed at Willard.
The first question came from Dave Rinehart of WCBK. Only, to call it a question is misleading.
“After a slow start by both teams, and there was a couple free throws by Illinois, it was a 6-4 ballgame,” Rinehart stated. “Boy, things just seemed like it took off for your ball club then. Rice hit four threes. He also had a couple free throws. (Julian) Reese had a single field goal in there. Bear with me here. And Derik Queen, he just ripped the hands out of the Illini on a rebound and put it back. Then Geronimo with an offensive rebound.”
At this point, Willard asked a natural question.
“Are we going to go through the whole box score?” he asked, which drew laughs from those in the room. “I’m from New York. There’s gotta be a question.”
“I’m done,” Rinehart replied. “Then Geronimo also with a three and capped off a 23-6 run and a 19-point lead. It seems like you guys never looked back after that. Sorry for the length of it.”
“That was a great job describing the game,” Willard remarked. “I got nothing for you. That was great.”
This “question” for Maryland coach Kevin Willard was a doozy. https://t.co/4ugXqyvCf3 via @YouTube
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 15, 2025
While Maryland never trailed and was never tied after 2-2, the Terrapins did take a little while to start clicking. But after the opening minutes, Maryland began to pull away. A three-pointer from Rice just over six minutes into the game gave the Terrapins a 22-10 and they maintained a double-digit lead for the remainder of the game.
So, Willard wasn’t lying. It was a perfect breakdown of the game.
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