The Maryland men’s basketball team opened Saturday’s game against No. 14 Illinois with energy and exuberance that had been sorely lacking recently. Part of the reason for the renewed vigor: The opponent provided one of two remaining Quadrant 1 victory opportunities for the Terrapins’ fizzling NCAA tournament aspirations.
Jahmir Young led the Terps (14-12, 6-9 Big Ten) with a game-high 28 points but made just 8 of 23 field goal attempts, missing several shots deep in the painted area during the closing minutes of Maryland’s fourth loss in five games. Julian Reese added 18 points and 11 rebounds, but the Terps made just 4 of 18 three-pointers and shot 41.3 percent overall — including 34.3 percent in the second half.
Maryland, which has the top scoring defense in the Big Ten, allowed its most points of the season. Transition defense was particularly troublesome, with the Fighting Illini (19-6, 10-4) holding a 19-2 advantage in fast-break points.
Maryland also played with a limited roster because of injuries to, most notably, Jordan Geronimo and Noah Batchelor. Fifth-year forward Donta Scott, normally a starter, missed the beginning of the game after slipping in a tunnel near the court but wound up playing 34 minutes and scoring 17 points.
Illinois got 27 points from guard Terrence Shannon Jr. to avenge a 76-67 loss last month in Champaign and end a three-game slide in the series. The second-leading scorer in the Big Ten missed the first meeting while suspended amid a rape charge. This time, Maryland tied the score at 68 with 5:39 to play before the Illini went on a decisive 11-5 burst to close a day devoted to recognizing Driesell’s vast contributions to the Terps’ program.
“Obviously today is — in the overall scheme of things — a really sad day for Maryland basketball,” second-year coach Kevin Willard said. “I want to give condolences to Lefty’s family. Obviously Lefty was a huge part of Maryland basketball, but he was also a really big part of college basketball. So it’s tough when you lose a legend, especially at your school, but I think college basketball today really lost someone who gave a lot to the game.”
Fans rose from their seats shortly before tip-off for a moment of silence for the coach responsible for moving Maryland onto the national landscape, declaring the school would become the “UCLA of the East.” The Terps never reached that level, but Driesell’s teams captured local loyalties thanks to indelible achievements such as winning the 1984 ACC tournament.
Members from that team who played for Driesell were recognized during a 40th-anniversary halftime ceremony, as was the 2004 team that won the ACC tournament championship under Gary Williams. Williams played at Maryland during lean times — before Driesell arrived in College Park — and then came back to direct the Terps to the national championship in 2002.
Driesell coached at Maryland from 1969 to 1986. He went 348-159 while packing the stands at Cole Field House.
“Having played here in the mid- to late ’60s and seeing how the basketball program was then compared to when Lefty came in, what he did with Cole Field House and then becoming a factor in the ACC, which we really weren’t when I was here, and then on the national level, beating UCLA, not being afraid to put Maryland’s basketball program out there,” said Williams, the only coach with more wins at Maryland than Driesell, “that takes some guts to do that.”
Other notable achievements under Driesell included six appearances in the ACC title game, eight NCAA tournament berths and the 1972 NIT championship. Maryland was ranked as high as second in the Associated Press poll for four consecutive seasons from 1972 to 1976 and attracted some of the top high school talent in the country.
He coached one of the greatest athletes in school history, Len Bias, who was the No. 2 pick by the Boston Celtics in the 1986 NBA draft. The Prince George’s County legend never played in the NBA, dying two days after the draft of a cocaine overdose. One day after a tragedy that still resonates in College Park, Driesell delivered an emotional tribute to Bias to an overflow crowd in the lobby at Cole Field House, calling him “the greatest basketball player that ever played in the Atlantic Coast Conference.”
“There’s so many stories,” said Keith Gatlin, a standout freshman on the 1984 team. “The one for me was just how personable Coach was, how he was so loving. The best times I had with him were actually at his house. On Saturdays, we’d play one-on-one, go to church with his family on Sundays — those are things I don’t think Coach got a lot of credit for. He was way before his time.”
