Everything that head coach Kevin Willard said after Maryland men’s basketball stormed past Saint Francis in a 111-57 win:
On 15 made threes in the win vs. Saint Francis
“I think we've been we've been trending that way for a while. You know, coming off a really tough loss at Purdue, I think taking some time off and getting these guys a little bit more in rhythm and really focusing on the individual instruction side of it. Just giving them some time to focus on finals. You know, when we pass the basketball that way, we have guys that can make shots. And when you have Derik [Queen] and Juju [Reese] in there, you know, he opens up a lot of things. So [I] thought we played on selfish and, you know, took good shots.”
On Selton Miguel finishing with 24 points on 10-of-13 shooting
“This is what we saw on film with him at South Florida. We, you know, it took him a little bit of time at South Florida to get going. And everyone has to understand. I mean, he started at Kansas State, went to South Florida, played for the Angola national team this summer. Now he's playing for – this is his fourth different team. So for it to magically happen right away, it's not going to happen sometime for a fifth-year guy. And to Selton's credit, he has stayed extremely positive. He is – his work ethic has been great, and you're just seeing the result now of him just getting a little bit more comfortable in what things are doing.”
On why this Maryland team has developed such good on-court chemistry with passing
“I think Derik and Juju being such willing passers for big guys. You know, we demand the ball to get thrown inside but those two guys are willing to kick it back out. And I think when you have unselfish big guys, especially a guy like Ju, a senior that's been around the block, that just – guys feed off that.”
On Miguel’s biggest adjustment to get comfortable
“Just learning a new offense. I mean, new players, you know, new roles, a new defense. You know, he missed the summer because he had the chance to play for his national team which was phenomenal. It's a great, great experience for him. But that also put him behind what we were doing and how he was going to learn. And I knew that going in that he was going to be behind. But you know, you never going to pass up an experience to play for the national team. So it's just a matter just kind of, sometimes just got to be patient, let it happen. I think he kind of, he's smart enough to know that what was going on and it was going to come through for him.”
On Maryland generating multiple scoring runs through non-conference play
“We're able to consecutively press. So when you score and you can get after it and keep after it and get teams to take rush shots and then maybe get a turnover and get your tempo going and get up the floor, you're going to have those runs. We couldn't have those runs last year because we couldn't score. So when you can't score, you can't press and it's really hard to have scoring runs when you're you can't force the tempo that you want to play with. So when we're making shots and we're able to get the ball inside and score, we're able to force the tempo that we want to force.”
On the shot selection in the win
“I mean, I think going into the game, we're shooting 34% from three. When we go back as a staff, we're almost up at 42% during live ball, technically real game-time. We've really hurt ourselves, from an analytics standpoint, in the last six minutes of some of these games. I think these guys have [understood] how important analytics are now and realize what every shot means. We took a lot of bad shots in the first half of Purdue, where we only gave up 31 but we only had 36 points. I think we counted nine possessions on the road where we just wasted. We took bad shots. And you take bad shots against a Purdue on the road, you know, it's going to come back and bite you. And that's what happened in the second half. So I think these guys are starting to understand a little bit that, you know for the main part, those five guys, six, seven guys are going to be out there, the ball is going to eventually come back to you. Just be patient. Let's get good possessions every time.”
On what changed after the first ten minutes
“We were a little gassed, to be honest with you. I mean, we hadn't played a game in nine days, so that's a long break. So I think it just, just getting back into the into game mode. I just think guys just picked it up. They kind of saw what was going on. It was time to pick up our defensive intensity and just kind of get back into the rhythm a little bit. It just, I kind of knew we're going to start off bad just because we hadn't played a game since last Sunday. So it's just a little bit about being patient and letting guys kind of just get back into the flow of the game.”
On the scoring efficiency heading into Syracuse, west coast trip
“I think the biggest thing is again, getting the bench points that we're getting. I know what we're going to get with that starting five – that starting five has been one of the most efficient starting fives in the country. From a plus minus, from everything, they've been great. I think the biggest thing is when I get Jayhlon [Young] in there, when I get Tafara [Gapare] in there, when I get Jordan [Geronimo] in there. I think Malachi [Palmer] is really one of those guys I got to find more time for. That second line coming in and they can pick us up defensively, but if they can score and shoot like they're doing, then it's really going to help us.”
On DeShawn Harris-Smith playing just four minutes
“No, just coach’s decision.”
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