Fab freshmen in spotlight as Maryland visits No. 17 Illinois

Five months from now, Illinois freshmen Kasparas Jakucionis and Will Riley and Maryland rookie Derik Queen all could hear their names announced during the first round of the NBA Draft.

But as the 17th-ranked Fighting Illini (13-5, 5-3 Big Ten) prepare to host the Terrapins (14-5, 4-4) on Thursday night, all three phenoms are dealing with the reality that not everything will go their way all the time.

Queen, for example, has failed to hit double figures in four of Maryland's six Big Ten games this month after dominating during the Terps' 13 games before the new year. On Sunday, the 6-foot-10, 246-pound center managed just three points in 27 minutes in a 69-66 home win over Nebraska.

"I think everybody just needs to take a deep breath and realize he's a freshman going against fifth-year seniors," Maryland coach Kevin Willard said. "He's as talented of a player as there is and he's going to be in that three-letter league pretty soon, but we're asking a freshman to do a whole lot in a league that's full of fifth-year COVID guys, physical guys."

Queen enters the Illinois game averaging 15.1 points and 8.1 rebounds per game, but those averages stood at 16.8 points and 8.8 rebounds entering January.

"He's fine. He's going to figure it out. He's a smart player. He's playing a ton of minutes... he's going to struggle at times," Willard said. "This league will make you struggle. He understands that. And he's still playing good. It's just his production is going to be a little down because this league will make you do it."

Jakucionis' issues are more injury-related and referee-related. He sat out two games two weeks ago -- including Illinois' home loss to Southern California -- due to tendinitis in his left wrist.

He was back on the floor for Sunday's 80-78 loss at then-No. 12 Michigan State, but not for long. The Lithuania native (15.9 points, 5.3 assists, 5.1 rebounds per game) played less than nine minutes before fouling out with 6:39 to play.

"The best player in the game played eight minutes," said Illinois coach Brad Underwood, who termed at least one of the fouls whistled against Jakucionis as "gross."

"You saw just a little bit of what he can do when he was in. Just controlled the whole game with pick-and-rolls and passes. Unfortunately, he didn't get to play. There hasn't been one player in the country -- or one team in the country -- guard him with any success. He's a maestro. He is completely different than anybody else. Don't make any mistake. If he's not the best point guard in the country, he's very close. And he's 18 years old."

There was a silver lining to Jakucionis' foul problems. Riley came off the bench and poured in 16 points in his first seven minutes on the floor. The 6-foot-8 forward finished with 19 points, a huge outburst considering he had managed 28 points in his previous five games.

Riley is still struggling to be efficient -- he has hit 50 percent of his shots just once in his last nine games -- but it's a start.

"Will Riley kind of broke out of what he's been in," Underwood said. "He's a freshman. He's gone through it. He's had to go through being at the top of the scouting report, which he was for a long time, and missing some easy shots and finding his way. But he's got that capability offensively."

--Field Level Media