Led by Andre Mills, the University of Maryland Terrapins were defeated 78-72 by the Illinois Fighting Illini in a Sunday afternoon matchup.
The crowd was fired up in the Xfinity Arena as it was senior night and the last home game of the 2026 season. Seniors Diggy Coit, Elijah Saunders, Collin Metcalf and Soloman Washington got honored just before tipoff, giving them a special Terps farewell.
Although Illinois is a No. 4 team and has a huge size advantage, the Terps played up to the challenge, not letting the score spread more than four points in the first half.
In the first three minutes, Maryland capitalized on an explosive fast-break dunk by Washington and two threes, which set the pace for the rest of the half. Both teams played strong for the remainder of the first which ended 37-34 with Illinois in the lead after making a last second bucket from beyond the arc.
After coming out for the second, the Terps slowed down a little bit, letting the Fighting Illini get their biggest lead of the game at the 8 minute mark, but quickly recovered after, tying the game back up after a big steal by freshman Andre Mills.
“The team we are today is not the team that started out in November at all. We’ve all grown so much,” Mills said.
Andre Mills had an exceptional game, going 10-18 from the field with four rebounds and three assists, making this his second 30 point game in his college career and 6th consecutive double-digit game.
“There’s been somewhat of a crescendo in how Mills has played,” head coach Buzz Williams said.
The Terps are now looking forward to playing in the upcoming Big Ten tournament March 10th-15th.