As Maryland men’s basketball is set to wrap up the non-conference portion of the 2024-25 schedule, head coach Kevin Willard noted his team’s on-court chemistry has been “really nice about this team.”
“I think this team has really jelled nicely and guys are understanding their roles and accepting their roles,” Willard said on Talkin’ Terps this week. “I think the biggest thing is that everyone kind of knows that on any given night, we can have a different leading scorer. The other night, obviously Selton [Miguel] got it going late in the first half and this team doesn’t shy away from feeding the hot hand. When Rodney [Rice] had 26 [points] in the first half earlier in the year, guys were looking for him. So I think that’s what’s really nice about this team, is that they all understand there’s a lot of talented guys out there and some nights it’s going to be [Julian Reese’s] night, some nights it’s going to be Rodney. Ja’Kobi [Gillespie] has been great about facilitating. I think it’s a group that’s really fallen nicely into their roles.”
It took less time for some to adjust to the new-look starting five after Derik Queen kicked off his Maryland career with a 20-20 game, the first by a Maryland freshman in 30 years, while Rodney Rice knocked down at least two threes in each of his first six games, ultimately sliding him into the starting rotation. Tafara Gapare, meanwhile, recorded a new career-high 19 points against Bucknell as he helped fill the void in the frontcourt after Jordan Geronimo was sidelined with a hamstring injury before Selton Miguel found his groove, scoring double figures in each of the last seven games.
Willard noted that Miguel has been “a big part of that” scoring resurgence for the Terps this season with a focus on stretching defenses more through conference play.
“If you look at the Syracuse game, we were up 40 [points] and Rodney missed like five wide-open threes which Rodney doesn’t miss wide-open threes. We could’ve stretched that to 45 or 50 [points] if he had made those shots,” Willard added. “This is a team that – we want to shoot about 25 three-pointers per game because the more threes we shoot, the more – it’s harder to double Derik [Queen], it’s harder to double Ju, harder to clog up the lanes. It opens up the lanes for Ja’Kobi, you know, Ja’Kobi’s an elite shooter. I’m looking to get him three or four more threes per game and it’s one of those things – he hasn’t played as many minutes. That starting lineup – Rodney, Selton and Ja’Kobi – those are three elite shooters. Those guys are going to take most of your shots. You come off the bench, Jayhlon [Young] is a very good catch-and-shoot shooter, Tafara [Gapare] can shoot the basketball, Malachi [Palmer] can shoot the basketball. So again, that was the main thing that I was not going to go through anything that I had gone through the year before.”
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