Maryland men’s basketball moved to 7-1 heading into their Big Ten opener against Ohio State on Wednesday as head coach Kevin Willard recapped the blowout win vs. Alcorn State on Sunday afternoon:
On the win vs. Alcorn St.
“I think the biggest thing – I was just talking about it out there. We we're supposed to be in an MTE in New York with [Villanova] and Virginia and Missouri, and then that got because of the NBA thing, that kind of got mixed up. So we were hoping for our first Big Ten game to be on Thursday and Wednesday, but we had no other room to squeeze the game in. So yeah, I mean, the biggest thing going to this one was just get our bench more minutes and give them the experience, which, which we did.”
On DeShawn Harris-Smith
“I think he's doing a great job. He's his leadership has been great. I think the biggest thing for me, it gives me someone that I know that I have a lot of confidence in coming off the bench, that understands the system, that I know is going to do all the right things, make all the right plays. And I just think it's taken a lot of pressure of him having to make shots with that first group. I mean, I made him a jump shooter in that first group, and now he's able to be more of a playmaker.”
On Tafara Gapare finishing with a near double-double (9 pts, 8 reb)
“Yeah, I mean, Tafara, like that’s – I keep telling people that's what we see every day. It's just I got to somehow get him to turn his motor on right away when he first goes in, because that's what he's capable of doing all the time. And I think some of the guys, bench guys, are trying to coast into the game instead of trying to explode into the game. And I think once he figures it out, it will help us tremendously.”
On 25 assists on 32 made shots
“It helps when you have guys make shots. So when you go, I mean, we shot almost 50% from three, so your ball movement looks a lot better when you're popping the ball and you have guys make shots. That was one of our issues last year, is we would pop the ball and get open. We were seventh in the country in open shots. We were 340th in making them. This year, it's just, it's different. You got Rodney [Rice], you got Selton [Miguel], Ja’Kobi [Gillespie], Jay [Young] making shots. Malachi [Palmer] can make shots. So it's the ball movements good and we're popping it. But we also have guys just making shots.”
On whether Willard saw anything different after Alcorn State’s brief lead
“No, I just our defensive intensity picked back up. We're able to get on a break a little bit. And they've come out. I mean, they played, I think they played nine road games. They've come out and played everyone really hard for the first 20 minutes. I mean, really hard. When you've been on the road for nine days, you know eventually it's gonna go away.”
On Julian Reese finishing 10-of-12 from the free-throw line
“I think he's done a good job of understanding that was a big weakness for him. If he had shot 70% last year, he averages another four points a game, which is monstrous. Not only for him, but for us when you lose seven three-point games. So I think he understood. He worked hard this summer and I think he's got a lot of confidence in the shot right now.”
On having Queen and Reese so comfortable at the free-throw line
“It's because we're going to need them. We're gonna have to throw the ball inside. I mean, you just can't in this conference. I mean, it's gonna have to be pound the ball inside and the games get ten times more physical in the next two games. So to have guys that, when they rebound the basketball can get fouled, it's a little bit more of a security blanket than it was in the past.”
On the importance of walk-ons Ben Murphy and Lukas Sotell checking in
“Ben and Lucas are two young men that they come, they work every day. They don't get a whole lot of opportunities. So that when they when you do get the opportunity to touch the court, I think it is special for them. And they've been lucky this year. I mean, we only had two opportunities last year for them to do it. This year, it's been almost five or six. So when you can get everyone in the game, it's rewarding to the guys that put the work in.”
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