Maryland was able to claw back into the game against Illinois but was never able to get over the hump in the second half in an 85-80 loss vs. Illinois as head coach Kevin Willard watched his team fall to 14-12 (6-9) on the season. After splitting the season series vs. Illinois, Maryland has now lost four of its last five games. Jahmir Young led the way once again with a game-high 28 points for Maryland, Julian Reese notched his 14th double-double of the season while Donta Scott scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half. Still, Maryland had no answer for Terrence Shannon Jr. down the stretch as he finished with 27 points for Illinois, including six free throws in the final 19 seconds in the final blow for Maryland. Everything that head coach Kevin Willard and Jahmir Young said following the loss: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atNRZC8V4KU Willard on the loss of former head coach Lefty Driesell “Obviously today is a, in the overall scheme of things, it’s a really sad day for Maryland basketball. I want to give the condolences to Lefty Driesell and his family. Obviously Lefty was a huge part of Maryland basketball but he was also a really big part of college basketball. It’s tough when you lose a legend especially at your school but I think college basketball today really lost somebody that gave a lot to the game of basketball. I just wanted Lefty’s family to know that we said a prayer for him before the game and we’re thinking about him.” Young on Lefty Driesell’s passing “RIP to Lefty. He’s had a huge impact on the program.” Young on his missed transition layup then Illinois’ and-one in the closing minutes “That was a huge momentum shift. I mean, it's tough. It's tough. It's tough. But. I mean, we just got to move on and get ready for the next one. But I mean, that was definitely the biggest play of game and it was a momentum shift. We gotta do a better job in the future of being able to bounce back from that.” Willard on how much Lefty Driesell’s passing was on Willard’s mind “I only really got to talk to Lefty about four or five times because he was doing good, but not great and every time I talked to him was kind of same conversation so I kind of enjoyed the conversation because he had so much love for Maryland. He talked about Maryland. More than anything, he would always ask me about my family and we talk about his kids and so I think I enjoyed, because I think he told me his record quite a few times, but I always enjoyed more the fact that the conversation would get to Chuck or his kids or my kids. And so it was on our mind, but you know, obviously once the game starts, you gotta go.” Young on what Illinois did well offensively “We had a tough time transition defense tonight. Shannon got out. They did a good job of getting to the line, drawing fouls. I would say the threes in the first half then the transition defense in the second half.” Young on the difference in Illinois first-half vs. second-half defense “I'll say they got more aggressively defensively as the game went on. They started to blitz pick-and-rolls, just switch up the different reads that they were giving me and my teammates. That's what I’d say. They were just getting more aggressive defensively. We struggled a little bit. They went zone a couple of times so they were just mixing it up and they play great defense tonight.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLibExTIWms Willard on Maryland’s defensive performance vs. Illinois “Sometimes, when you're a big preparation team and you're young, I just told the team, Thursday was really…we didn't do much Thursday cause we had such a late game on Wednesday and because we found out we weren't going to have Jordan , no Noah and obviously Chance hurt, Braden is redshirting so we’re kind of down. And then Donta got hurt before the game. We didn’t really practice that much yesterday. What I told the team is sometimes you gotta be a little bit more mentally sharp this time of year in conference play. And I thought yesterday and even Thursday, we were just not as sharp as we'd been. And just being tired and the late game, but I was proud of their effort. We had our chances. You give up 36 free throws, you're going to lose a game.” Willard on how Jahmir Young fared vs. Terrence Shannon Jr. down the stretch “I’ll be honest, I think Jahmir got fouled about 12 times again and didn’t get a call. So if I think if we're calling fouls down one end, it's got to be the same way. Yeah he did a good job, but you gotta call it the same way.” Young on whether Jahmir Young felt he was fouled late in the game “Refs are human. So, I mean, they're going to miss calls. They're going to make calls. I can't really speak on the refs. They did the best they could. But I mean, I definitely felt like I got hit. I’m sure a couple of Illinois guys felt like they got hit as well. So, I mean, it's just how the game goes and just got to go with it.” Young on how Terrence Shannon played defensively against him “Hats off to him. He’s a great defender. He was making it tough for me to get catches and get to my spot. He definitely played good defense tonight and definitely made it tougher for me.” Willard on how Terrence Shannon Jr. fared vs. Maryland “We didn't play against on the first time. We played against him last year. I think for the young guys and even all the new guys, there's only two guys that really played against him last year. The big thing was trying to get back and form a wall on him in transition ‘cause that's really where he does all his damage and that’s where he did his damage mostly. He made a couple of nice moves. He’s a pro. He’s going to make some good moves and score in the first half but for the most part he did most of his damage in transition.” Young on the struggle limiting Illinois in transition “Them just not really letting us get offensive rebounds. They limited us to one shot. They got the ball out quick and Shannon is one of the fastest players in the country. He’s a tank downhill. It wasn't just him, but for the most part, I feel like that's what hurt us and that's what cost us the game.” Willard on Donta Scott scoring 15 of his 17 points in the second half “He had kind of a freak accident before the game. He slipped in the tunnel coming out for warmups. That's why he didn't start and kind of took him a while to get going. It was just a freak accident. He slipped on a puddle in the tunnel. I think it took him a little time to get going ‘cause I think he had a little shock, the fact that he wiped out in the tunnel. So we had to go through, we had to have the doctor clear him and then you've got to make sure he's okay. And you got to make sure that he's able to play in. They tested him back here but I think when he got in, if you watch, he just was a little bit hesitant. He gave up two threes. But once he got going, he was the Donta that's been really Donta over the last two months. He’s been really good.” Young on Donta Scott’s early injury and whether it shook the team “Donta is a tough guy. We knew he’d be back. It was good. We were happy to see him back on the sideline early in the first half and checking in. It didn’t really shake us up that much but to see him back to normal, get going, just happy to see him like himself. Related Links Maryland drops signature win opportunity, fall 85-80 vs. IllinoisFormer Maryland HC Lefty Driesell passed away at 92Gary Williams on ’04 ACC championship, ACC days, thoughts on WillardLocal four-star edge still has Maryland in his top group (+)
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