Illinois’ 106-94 win over Iowa marked the team’s fourth-straight win and second against the Hawkeyes in as many weeks to advance to the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals Friday night against Maryland (6:30 p.m. ET, BTN).
Although Illinois lost to Maryland by 21 in Champaign in mid-January, coach Brad Underwood recognizes his team, which saw guard Tre White, center Tomislav Ivisic, guard Kylan Boswell and forward Will Riley combine for 86 points, can become much more balanced.
“I don’t know,” Underwood told reporters regarding Illinois’ ceiling. “I think about that all the time. It’s a great question. I think about what is that. I don’t — I think the shooting — you know, we shot it better tonight. We’ve been shooting it pretty good. That’s been the one thing. And we’ve cut our turnovers down a lot.”
Illinois committed just 10 turnovers in the win despite the game’s back-and-forth first-half nature before it eventually pulled away late following Iowa coach Fran McCaffery’s ejection.
“It seems like every game we’ve had one area that we’ve kind of just — you know, last Iowa game we get out-rebounded by them,” Underwood added. “I think we’ve had closer to getting to that ceiling where we’re starting to play a little more 40 minutes than 35 or 32.”
With the focus shifting to the Terrapins, Underwood expects a physical battle while paying respect to the job Kevin Willard has done with turning his team around.
“They’re very good, and we haven’t seen them in a little bit,” Underwood said. “It’ll be a different challenge than tonight. Our health is the big thing. We got in foul trouble in the first game and had pretty small guys guarding those guys in post ups.”
Whoever wins plays the winner of Friday night’s nightcap between Michigan and Purdue in a Saturday matinee, the other two teams Illinois has beaten during its streak.
Illinois can now attempt to extend its streak to five-straight wins as NCAA Tournament seeding looms.