Head coach Kevin Willard guided his team to a win back at home for the first ranked win of the season after Maryland men’s basketball dominated the second-half vs. UCLA en route to a 79-61 win.
Everything Willard said after the win:
On how much of a lift Maryland got being back at home
“Obviously it's huge. I mean, you saw us out there. I thought we played well at spurts out there. And, you know, it was good to come home and just have a couple days and obviously have a great home crowd. I mean it's our first conference game at home since December 2. So when you have that big of a load and you have three in a row, technically on the road, and you play well in the road, but you don't win, it's good to come home and get a [win].”
On Maryland forcing UCLA into 21 turnovers
“I think the big thing Gene, you know, we talked a lot in the last two days. We didn't get home until – whatever – and this team has been good. When we sit there and watch film and we talk about it, we've had three minute stretches of defense that's kill us in all three road games and really the Marquette game, and we just kind of talked about it. And sometimes, you know, we don't need to drill it. We don't need to do it. Sometimes you just kind of re-emphasize it with guys. And I thought our end of shot clock defense. You know, we're one of the best teams in the country at how long it takes to get a shot off. We're not one of the best teams in the country at finishing those possessions. So I thought we did a much better job – I thought we took the step in the right direction of doing it.”
On Ja’Kobi Gillespie finishing with a career-high 27 points
“I think Ja’Kobi was a little upset the way he played out west. I don't think he played overly well out west. And so I think he had, we had a good conversation about just understanding at this level on what it takes to play at a high level. And again, you got to look at him and Rodney [Rice]. Rodney is going – Rodney is technically a freshman going through it. Ja’Kobi, this is the first time going back-to-back-to-back [against] Oregon, Purdue, Washington who's a very good defensive team at home, and now UCLA. Just getting him to understand the attitude, not only the level of effort that you have to play with, but the attitude that you have to come into every game. And I think that's something that I think he's – I'm not sure he has it yet, but he's starting to realize how he has to play at all times to be effective.”
On limiting Tyler Bilodeau to four second-half points
“The biggest thing was just trying to keep throwing the ball in to [Julian Reese] early and wear him down. Again, he's talented. He's good. He can pick-and-pop. He made some really tough, he made some tough shots. The one left-hand one he made at the end of the first half was tough. He made a really tough one right hand hook early in the second half. But we were okay with that. We just wanted to keep hitting him, hitting him, hitting him. He's such a talented player. He's such a good passer. We didn't want to get him get any threes and just kind of make a tough for him and just wear them out a little bit. And I think that, you know, after a while when you're hitting Ju, they're hitting each other, big guys wear out a little bit – at least they usually do.”
On Tafara Gapare, balancing minutes with Jordan Geronimo
“The biggest thing is, I hate – analytics tells me who to play with and who plays well together, and there's a huge, huge difference when Tafara is playing with certain guys and Jordan's playing with certain guys. So as much – I've said this – as much as I'm old school and believe and feel in the flow and energy of the game, I still go back every morning and I look back and I look at every lineup. I look at every time a guy's on the floor, every time a guy's off the floor. I mean, we have numbers and data to kind of sit there and say, okay, in the first half, this is who plays well together. This is who you should have on the floor. And I don't go by it religiously, but I do use as a big tool, and right now Tafara is just from numbers-wise and helping out Ju, spacing, is the guy that's really helping us.”
On Julian Reese posting a double-double in the win vs. UCLA
“I think the biggest thing – Ju is going to give us a double-double, just better every night. But I think the biggest thing was how well he was defensively tonight. He really, I think he made himself mad. He really made me angry. Just his defensive awareness in Washington and Oregon. He was one of the best defenders in pick and rolls and post defense last year. And I think, you know, just getting him to refocus on that a little bit was a huge difference, because he's again, he was, I thought he was locked in tonight. He's been locked in all year, but I thought defensively he was the difference.”
On Gapare’s development and growth through the season
“He's just, he's showing everybody. He's been really consistent in practice. He's been really consistent when he's on the floor. Again, he doesn't play good with some guys and he plays really good with other guys. I think for the guys coming off the bench, something I've done is just trying to make sure that when they come in the game, I got guys out there that can help them play well. I think sometimes early in the year, I put guys out there and they don't, it's like not playing well in the sandbox, you know? And there's no point putting the guys in the sandbox if they don't play well together. So I think the biggest thing for me is just making sure that when I put Jay [Young] in, I put Deshawn [Harris-Smith] in, I put Tafara in – the right combinations are in there to make sure that they are successful.”
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