Everything head coach Kevin Willard said ahead of Wednesday’s game between Maryland and Michigan State:
On the priorities vs. Michigan State
“Rebounding, transition and not turning the basketball over – probably in that order against Michigan State.”
On the Spartans’ guards and their perimeter defense
“I think their pick-and-roll defense is really, really good. Their bigs do a great job hedging. Their guards work to get over screens. So I think they really take away some of your pick-and-roll actions that a lot of people use to get single tags, double tags, and I think they just do a really good job. Their big guys do a great job working and really making your guards make an extra pass but then they really just run you off the line.”
On playing a Spartans team that has ten-deep
“They're deep but you're still worrying about the same guys I mean, if you don't take care of [Tre] Holloman and [Jaden] Akins and [Jeremy] Fears, you're in trouble anyways. I mean, their depth is great, but at the same time, their usage rate is for their bench is not very high. Their usage rate for their main four guys is extremely high.”
On whether Maryland could play zone defense, Michigan State’s perimeter shooting
“They're actually a much better shooting team. If you look at their past nine games and where they started the season. And I really think the difference is once they move Holloman off to the bench and brought him off the bench, they've actually been shooting the ball above average for conference play. I think they're a better shooting team and people just look at their stats and say, this is what they're shooting. You really got to look at game specific and the difference in how this team – I mean, they went from young to kind of old, back to young to old. They've really improved. I think this is by far the difference between them and December and them and now in almost March is night and day. So the look at the shooting percentage is back in December, early in the season where they struggled to now, where I think they're shooting the basketball with much more confidence, I think is a major difference.”
On the emphasis on improved shooting in college basketball
“No. I mean, I think there's been a shift into everybody wanting to shoot the ball, whether you're 7-foot or 5-foot-11 everyone thinks they have to be Steph Curry or Kevin Durant. But I think there's just been a bigger emphasis on the fact that everybody feels that they need to be able to shoot the basketball. So I think that's why you see a lot more shooting coaches and that stuff because the emphasis on shooting has become so much greater than it was in the past. If you were 7-foot in the past, you would never shoot the basketball. You would work on your low post moves and that's totally changed now.”
On the value of KenPom to the Maryland team during the season
“I think the biggest difference is you now with the transfer portal, you have guys coming from leagues that conference games didn't matter. Where the only thing that mattered were three games in March, and for me this year, showing them KenPom, getting them to understand the NET, margin of victory, who you're playing, when you're playing, where you're playing, I think changes team's mentality a little bit. Instead of just going into every game to try to win, understanding the importance of every game. And when you're at some different conferences, you can not play well in January and February and it doesn't really matter. It matters in this conference. It matters at this level. Every game is, from November on, is important. How you play and how what the score is, and so just getting them to understand what that means.”
On whether the Big Ten standings has become a topic of conversation
“I have not talked to them about the standings. They have talked about it themselves. This team has – what I love most about coaching this team is that I do think that they have a sense [of] awareness of where they are, what's going on within the league. So I know they've about it.”
On goals for the season, where Maryland stands in terms of reaching them
“Yeah. I mean, I break the conference schedule up into technically sixes – a third, a third, a third. And when I looked at the conference schedule this year, really getting through January is my biggest, getting us through there and playing well is my biggest goal. But I think we're playing good basketball. I mean, I think we could get better - we haven't been able to practice that much just because we're so, we're down technically, almost five scholarship guys. Maybe my biggest worry is that we just haven't been able to practice quite as much as I'd like to. But as far as where we are, I like where we are.”
On what Willard has seen from Tom Izzo
“I think Coach Izzo is, you know, obviously the gold standard for this conference. I think he's the reason why the Big Ten basketball is Big Ten basketball. If you look at it - we were just doing it, you can go on KenPom and you can click on a head coach and you can kind of see what their seed is, what their conference record is, every year where they've been. And we were talking about guys like, you know, Bill Self, coach Izzo, John Calipari, just what they've done for college basketball and what they've meant for college basketball. I think Coach Izzo for the Big Ten has helped, and, if not been the main reason why, arguably, year in and year out, this is the best college basketball conference.”
On the chemistry of the starting five
“I think Julian's been a huge - Julian and Derik, probably both. Ju sacrificed a lot early. Derik coming in as a McDonald's all American, I thought he sacrificed a lot early. And I think the other guys kind of realized if your veteran player who's been here for four years, and, like I said, should go down as one of the best players ever play at the University of Maryland. If he's sacrificing from day one and the McDonald's all Americans is coming with all his hype, he's sacrificing that, maybe we should all get along. So I think those two guys set the tone early on. But I probably give most credit to Julian because he probably had to, you know, coming into senior year being the only guy that's been here, I thought his unselfishness really set the tone.”
On what went well last offseason that Willard can replicate this upcoming offseason
“I think every year you go nowadays, you're going into first, who you have returning. You have to kind of, I knew we had Derik, and after I talked to Ju after we lost in the Big Ten tournament and he told me he was coming back, I knew I had those two. That's all I knew I had. But that was alright, so I my starting, power forward, my starting center. I knew what I had with Ju. I kind of knew what I had with Derik. So you flipped your switch. It's almost happened already. Like I'm a GM right now. You're really looking alright, even for next year, I kind of know what I have and so now you're looking at our how do I build off that going in and do the same thing? So we had, I thought, the best frontcourt and so I needed to have guys that could shoot the basketball. It was a non-negotiable. If you could not shoot the basketball, we were not bringing you in off the portal. And we had a couple guys, some really good players, that wanted to come here but it just didn't fit. And so for me, it was get someone to replace [Jahmir Young], that was the most important reason, and then getting two other guys that could really score the basketball.”
On how a homestand helps Maryland reset
“It's been nice. I'll be honest, I'd rather have it in January. This time of year, I think everyone's grinding. If you look at - I think Michigan had a big time win at Nebraska last night. I think everyone's grinding this time of year. I think you can gain a lot of momentum early in conference play sometimes that can help carry you this time of year. But being home, I'm never going to argue, never going to complain about being in this building. Our record [is] pretty good here.”
On Jaden Akins
“Him and Holloman…they're dogs, man. Like they don't care who they're playing, where they're playing, what they're up against. They're coming at you. They fit coach Izzo’s personality to a tee. I mean, it doesn't matter there. They could be down, they could be up – they're gonna come at you constantly. And I love how aggressive they are. I love how they don't seem to get flustered whatsoever. I just think he's a dog man. He's one of those kids you hate playing against and would love to have on your team.”
On the ‘Crab Five’
“First of all, they all have an unbelievably great attitude. They all walk in, they're always smiling. They're always laughing. They walk into the gym and they're not in a bad mood. They're not cranky. Every one of them hasn't had a bad day in practice, which is very, very rare. And I think the second thing is, you know, they can score the ball. So as a coach, you run a play and it kind of sucks, which you do a lot, but you have a guy like Selton who can make a 25-footer or [Ja’Kobi], who make up for it. As a coach, it gives you so much confidence going in and game plan that you have guys that can cover for when you make a stupid play call. That's the best coaching in the world, is getting really good players.”
“I think it's great. Yeah, I'll be honest. It took me a little while to get it. And then I realized, you know, Maryland and crabs and all that. So, yeah, I thought, I kind of was like I thought we played pretty fast. We're eighth in tempo. I didn’t think we played slow and then I it took me a while but I think it's great. I think the fans have been great with it and I think it's well deserved. They're a fun group to watch and I think they've been really enjoyable all year.”
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