Kevin Willard’s opening statement
“Obviously disappointed in the way the game ended, but proud of the battle we fought back. We came out in the second half and didn't have very good energy. I thought these guys really picked it up and battled. Give Michigan credit, they made some good plays down the stretch. We just couldn't get a stop down the stretch. It's a good basketball team. Proud of my guys' effort.”
Derik Queen on his final two free throws
“Made two free throws, inbound the ball, we press, got past our guards, got past the second line. Then went in and made a layup.”
On Maryland’s comeback despite the rebound differential
Selton Miguel: “We're not satisfied. Of course it happened. We had four losses, all buzzer beaters. The main focus is just stay together all the time and keep playing. I know it came down to the last play, but we did everything we could to win the game.”
Queen: “Yeah, what Selton said, we didn't finish the half out great, but we didn't come into the half great. Then we let until the second media timeout to pick it up, and it wasn't too late, but we couldn't rack up stops.”
Miguel on Maryland’s last four losses coming on buzzer beaters
“We've got to prevent from the get go, from the start, not to depend on the last shot of the game. We learned, we keep learning, it's sports, things happen. But you learn after every game.”
On how the loss can be motivation for the NCAA Tournament
Queen: “Just make smarter decisions on the defensive end, no fouls, but just contain and stay in front of them. Hopefully we're never in that position again to even do that.
Miguel: “Like I said, keep learning. We definitely got to do a better job rebounding. That's the main thing, especially for the guards on our team. At the same time, we take every loss as a lesson. So just see what we can do in March Madness.”
Queen on tying his career high with two made threes
“I mean, I work on it every day. I just don't shoot a lot in a game, shoot one or two a game. Haven't been making them. They left me open a lot of times, I just made them.”
Willard on the message to his team heading into the NCAA Tournament
“It's a learning lesson. That's the way I talk to them. That's the way we're going to look at it. We did a lot of things right to get to that spot. We just did one thing wrong. It's disappointing, but every time we've had one of these losses -- and we've had four of them now-- these guys have learned what we've done wrong, and we've actually bounced back and come back. I'm going to use the same thing. I've got to make an adjustment late in the game, and give Tre a lot of credit, he made a tough left-handed layup.”
Willard on the challenge of facing Michigan’s frontcourt
“I think really where that size gets you --Donaldson's a big guard. Burnett is a bigger guard. When Roddy Gayle is playing the way he played today, I think that gives them a different dimension. Obviously their size is different, but we've got to -- our guards have to do a much better job of helping rebound. It's one thing that's been a little bit of a weakness of ours. We have two of our starters that have one rebound each. Sometimes when you play against bigger teams, you need your guards to go in there and dig them out, and I think that's the biggest challenge with them.”
Willard on the team’s travel
“I don't think I've complained about travel at all actually. I think I've actually said it's been good for the league to have the West Coast teams in it. So I haven't complained about travel at all.”
Willard on Maryland climbing back from a 15-point deficit
“I just said at the timeout I was a little disappointed the way we came out of the halftime. I thought they came out very aggressive, and I thought we didn't come out with the same aggressiveness that they did. I knew we'd get back in it because these guys have battled all year and they've been really good all year. It's just when you're giving up offensive rebound after offensive rebound, when you're getting some good defensive stops, it gets a little disheartening. It's something we haven't had happen to us, and it was really the difference in the game.”
Willard on how the Big Ten slate prepared Maryland for the postseason
“We're going to enjoy Selection Sunday tomorrow. The greatest thing about this league is there's so many different styles. Dusty switches a lot, 1 through 4. Then you have traditional with Coach Izzo, who's very traditional with hedging and being very physical. You have teams that play fast like Iowa. You have teams that play really slow like Minnesota and physical. Whoever we play on Thursday or Friday, we're going to have seen that style, and I think it's what's really unique about this conference is it makes you adjust as a coach and makes you get better as a coach because you see somany different styles. It's just not the same basketball night in and night out.”
Willard on whether the extra one day rest helps
“I'll be honest, if I see another buzzer beater, I'd rather be playing tomorrow. It's hard to win conference championships. It's hard to win conference tournament championships. When you have a chance, you've got to take advantage of every opportunity you get.”
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