Maryland at Illinois

It will be a battle of two good 7-0 teams, each entering the season with question marks, and each responding so far. This is going to be a very difficult game for Maryland, as one two of their question marks coming in were how would freshman PG Eric Hayes fit the role of taking over the MD offense, which was a missing ingredient last year. He has responded well. He has 36 assists and just 16 turnovers, but this is going to be very different. Illinois has won 51 straight in the "House of Paign" against non conference teams, and stands 5-0 this year. They have an overall record of 98-4 covering 7 years! (Penn St, Mich St., Purdue, and Indiana only teams winning here). It is going to be very difficult for a frosh PG who hasn't been in a true road game in his college career to come in here and excel. The second question for MD was the consistency of Mike Jones. Last year he was up and down like a yo-yo. He had 22 vs Wake, then 2 vs V Tech. He had 23 vs Temple, then 9 at NC. He had 21 vs Fla St. then 2 vs G Tech. This year it looked like he was going to have a breakout season as he averaged 16.5 ppg over the first four games but he is back at it again, as he has only averaged 7.3 ppg over the last three. Ekene Ibekwe may be not play, or at the very least be hampered by a sprained ankle. He was helped off the court in the last game vs High Point. Illinois lost a lot of experience and talent from a year ago. Randle (now out with surgery) and McBride are the top two returning scorers from a year ago. Want to get a barometer on how much this Illinois team has dropped off? Randle and McBride rank 7th and 8th in scoring! This is a deep talent rich team. Jamar Smith a 48% 3pt FG shooter last year and is at it again, now averaging 16.5 ppg and 57% from beyond the arc. Chester Frazier has solidified the point. Last year behind Brown, he averaged 1.3 ppg and 1.9 apg. This year he is at 11.6 ppg and 7 apg! The Illini have 7 double digit scorers, so are not dependent on any one player. They struggled a bit vs Evansville, and Miami Ohio, but that was not in the House of Paign, and those teams play a methodical style - not the case vs Maryland. We are behind the Illini tonight, to make it 52 straight in this house.