On the emotion from Michigan State’s halfcourt buzzer beater
“Something that hopefully we’ll get better at. You got to take the last shot there. I think [Ja’Kobi Gillespie] had fought so hard to come back, got a great rebound, got the push, and then, you know, that's just a tough way to lose a game. But give them credit, they got back. They came back, and [Tre] Holloman hadn't made a shot all night, so once he released, I knew that thing was going in.”
On whether this loss provides motivation for the end of the season
“I think the only thing it's going to be good for us as you get in the postseason play, it's not, as I told the team, I'm like you got to switch your - this is going to be a grind out game. It's not always going to be able to run up and down and make shots, and sometimes you have to switch the mode a little bit and realize it's going to be a grind out and you're not going to have your offense going and you still got to play. And I thought for the most part, as bad as we played offensively, these guys still brought great effort and gave us a chance to win.”
On the bench production
“I thought DeShawn [Harris-Smith] and Jordan [Geronimo] played great. I mean, I know we don't have any bench points, but there's just not a whole lot of shots to go around with those with those first five. Those first five are all guys that can score. So there's no one on that starting five that I'm not gonna tell the shoot so I don't know where the shots are gonna come from.”
On whether Ja’Kobi Gillespie should have waited longer
“You always want to make sure you get the last shot. But again, that's something that, he came down, pushed it. Maybe if he waits, he doesn't get an open look, you know. And I trust Ja’Kobi, he's been great all year. At the end of the day, kids still had to hit a 60-footer to beat you. So yes, do you want him to take the last shot? Absolutely but it's not like he took it at six seconds and Holloman was able to dribble up and get a layup. So would I like them to wait one more second? Sure kid still had his 60 footer to beat us.”
On whether Willard tells his team to remember this game the rest of the season
“We'll talk about this tomorrow when we watch film.”
On the late 12-3 run to tie the game at 55
“We got rebounds. I mean, I thought we went through a stretch in that second half - I thought the biggest play in the game was the offensive rebound off the free throw. We were up three, we give up an offensive rebound and then we give up another one. They score. I thought that gave them momentum and they killed our momentum.”
On Rodney Rice scoring 15 of his 20 points in the second half
“They weren't leaving [Selton Miguel]. And what makes Michigan State's so tough, it's unlike probably any team we'll see for the rest of the year, maybe in the future, their pick and roll defense is so good because they constantly have fresh big guys on the court. He's playing five big guys minutes so they don't really wear you down from the standpoint of like ducking in. Where they wear you down is that their pick and roll defense is elite because everyone on the court is really, really fresh at all times. So we’ll go back and look at it. And change some things if we play them again.”
On whether this game is evidence that Maryland doesn’t need 80 points every game
“It's going to be good for us in March. You're going to face a team from the SEC or the Big 12 where you're gonna have to slow it down, get it inside. You know, I thought our first half offense, we just didn't get the basketball inside to [Julian Reese]. And again, a little bit amped up, a little bit coming off a tough bye week. We talked about getting it inside and I just thought we got a little amped up in the first half. I thought that's kind of where we put ourselves behind the eight ball a little bit.”
On the atmosphere in the loss, whether it impacted the teams
“They won seven road games. I think there's 7-2 on the road…it was, it was a great atmosphere. It was a great college basketball game. I mean, I hate to lose on a buzzer beater. It's our third one this year, but I think it was a great atmosphere. Our fans have been great all year but I thought our student section was great tonight.”
On looking to initiate contact, get into the lane
“I really thought go going up against a Tom Izzo team for the first time is a unique thing. And the only guy that's played against Tom is Ju. And I think they finally started realizing we're just not gonna be able to come down, run a pick and roll and pick and roll and try to do that. So I thought they got a little bit more aggressive. I thought they started coming off screens and down screens a little bit more aggressive. But it is a learning experience.”
On shooting struggles vs. Michigan State, whether stats reflect shot selection
“I think you have to give them a lot of credit for really chasing us off the line and something [that] Washington did a really good job coming out. And again, I think just offensively, I didn't think we executed nearly the way we had been prior to this.”
On what Michigan State did defensively
“They got some huge offensive rebounds. You got to rebound the basketball to be able to get on the break and we gave up four in that between the eight and the two minute mark, which just kind of kills your momentum. You can't get on the break, you can't get an easy bucket. And I thought we did a great job for the most part of stopping them from getting any easy buckets. I think [Coen] Carr got one, got two quick ones, but he usually gets six of them he’s such a good athlete.”
On what Michigan State did well vs. Derik Queen
“Kohler, seven foot. Zapala seven foot, Carson Cooper, seven foot. Xavier Booker, seven foot. And they all played like 22 minutes. Again, just kind of, he's still - as good as he is - he's still a freshman that hasn't kind of gone up against that a little bit. I think he was a little amped up, to be honest with you, which is great. I didn't think he played bad. I just think the size and physicality kind of, again, we haven't seen that in quite a while. And I thought their big guys did a really good job of being physical with him at the point of contact.”
On Michigan State’s pick-and-roll defense, countering it
“We’ve got to get the ball. We just didn't get it inside. Early in the game. We did, I think that Ju had two post ups in the first half, he made one, and in the second half, I mean, to try to go into it at that situation, he missed a dunk. I thought he got fouled on the one, he didn't get a call. But early in the game, we've been doing a pretty good job of going inside and we didn't do a very good job tonight going inside early.”
On his assessment of his team in the loss
“I'm extremely proud of the way these guys fought all night, and they fought all year. They've gotten better. I think it's - we'll go back and watch the film and see where we need to get better and what adjustments we need to make. I think the good thing is, you know, tomorrow, we'll spend tomorrow getting ready, watching this game and learning from this game, and then Friday, we got to get ready for Penn State and get back on the road. I mean, it's life in conference play. You don't really have that much time that really feel sorry for yourselves. We got to get back and still got three big games left. It's disappointing that we lost but I'm extremely proud of the way this group has come together and fought all year long.”
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