Everything head coach Kevin Willard said after Maryland’s 90-81 win vs. Rutgers:
On Derik Queen’s career-high 29 points
“I would say this: he finally played against someone his own age. He's been going against the last four or five games, fifth-year senior, fifth-year senior, fifth-year senior, senior, senior. And he's played well but that's a grind, especially the defenses that Nebraska will throw at you, Northwestern throws at you, Indiana’s size. So I think it was kind of funny, they all look like they had little baby faces out there. And it's the first time I've seen that in a long time because it's been probably before COVID and the extra senior that you see a bunch of freshmen on the court. So I thought he just took advantage of the mismatch and played really well.”
On Jordan Geronimo’s performance and status
“Jordan got a pretty good elbow. [He’s] probably gonna get a few stitches, but he played great. I mean, Jordan and Tafara [Gapare] have kind of, when one of them hadn't been available, have really played well because they just know they're gonna play. So Jordan practiced great last week. That's why I put him in first against Ohio State. And he's practiced really well last the couple [of] weeks.”
On Rodney Rice’s back-to-back threes in the second half
“I think Rod and [Selton Miguel] have kind of figured [it] out. One of them having [it] going, and they're going to look for each other. I thought Selton in the first half was phenomenal. Just made some shots, that he's been doing. And then I think, you know, everyone knew that Rod kind of had it going, so everyone started looking for Rod, but I think they've worked really well knowing which guys kind of got it going a little bit.”
On Queen’s maturity in front of nearly 50 scouts and 23 NBA teams
“I've seen that all year. So, I mean, I don't think that's the first time – his first game he played in college, I think he had 22 [points] and 20 [rebounds]. So I don't think it matters who's playing or who's watching. He's just that good of a player. He went to Purdue and had 26 [points] so this is nothing surprising.”
On Rutgers and whether experience, age is underestimated
“I would say this. I think Steve has done an unbelievable job with that lineup. For them they had won two out of three. Defensively, they had gotten much better, especially at home. If this team was together next year, I would think they would probably be five wins better. I'll say the same thing – they're going up against, and again, going through this conference and going through the size, the physicality, the coaching, for those young men to be playing as good as they are, I think just shows you how good they are. But I don't think anyone – they're performing exactly the way they probably should before, and I think Steve's done a phenomenal job coaching them to even keep them where they are.”
On how Maryland defended Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey
“I think the biggest thing was for us, knowing they were young, knowing they've never seen pressure in this building was to just keep pressure. Really, it was – our whole focus was the first half, making sure that they really were not comfortable in the first half. They're too talented. They're going to they're going to eventually find a way to get a bucket. But our main goal, it's all we talked about for, we only had one practice, for one day was just make sure that they're not comfortable at all in the first half and I thought we did a good job with that.”
On the mutual respect with Rutgers head coach Steve Pikiell
“Steve's a good friend. I have so much respect for Steve. I think this is like, I don't know how many times we've gotten against each other. And at my old job, we were literally, well, traffic, 25 minutes where it should be 15. But when you when you're so close and you recruit the same guys and you see where he picked up the Rutgers program and where it was and what he had to go through and see the kids he's recruited and really see him almost on a daily basis, on the recruiting trail. Jersey is a very, very small pocket of what you recruit. I think you grow to respect to see a man that gives his all to a university and Steve has given everything to Rutgers. And it's fun to watch him get high-level players. It's fun to watch him where he's brought that program. So again, I have so much respect for Steve because I saw what he did from the start and what he took over for it. So he's just, he's a good friend of mine and he's a heck of a coach.”
On Selton Miguel’s spark with four made threes
“[Julian Reese] had a couple, like, I thought he got fouled a couple [of] times and they got some fast break points, but we were getting everything we [wanted] to. So after the under-16 [timeout], I told everybody just to relax. We're getting good looks. We get good shots. It's nice to have a guy that's old as Selton because he doesn't get frazzled and he just keeps playing his game. But you know, we're on these Thursday-Sundays, Thursday-Sunday and we're on the road on Thursday, so we didn't get we didn't get home till almost four in the morning on Friday. So we didn't practice Friday. These guys practice great. Yesterday was the best practice we've had all year. I was shocked, because we only have nine scholarship guys and they practiced great. And so I kind of just reminded them, like, hey, we practiced great. Whenever we practice great, we play great. Let's just kind of get in the rhythm. And I thought Selton helped us get in the rhythm.”
On holding off Rutgers in the second half
“We're kind of doing the same thing we did at Ohio State, and we had gotten out of that rhythm. We did the same thing at Indiana. We got up nine in Indiana and they let them come all the way back. This is a confident group, which is great. But sometimes they just, they take the foot off the gas a little bit. And you, I think what they're learning is you cannot do that in this conference. Where they might have come from, I mean, we have four starters from four different conferences last year. You might have been able to get away with that last year. And I think they're starting to respect the conference. They're learning and they're understanding. And you know, you could say, well, you're 12 games in or 13 games in - they're all freshmen from the standpoint of learning the Big Ten. And as every game you go through, you just get – that's why seniors are great. That's why you depend on your seniors and freshmen drive you up the wall. And from a standpoint of understanding the league, I technically have four freshmen starting because they've never gone through this league.”
On Tafara Gapare’s status
“He’s sick. Everyone's – we've all had our trainers gone. Ja’Kobi had it against Ohio State. Tafara’s sick. It's kind of gone through the team a little bit, unfortunately.”
On the scoring balance in the win with Reese having a quiet night
“It shows his leadership because on the bench, he knew…it was not his night and his leadership was unbelievable at all times. His voice was loud, he was positive. And he's been the best player in the Big Ten for the last month, hands down. I mean, you look at his numbers and what he's shooting, offense, rebound, his defense. So the big fella had a tough night. It happens.”
On the level of concern with Maryland’s free-throw shooting
“Yes, it's concerning. It's starting to aggravate me a little bit, because we not only do we work on it but we're a good free throw shooting team. I mean, we go back to Ohio State, if we just make our free throws, we win the game. So sometimes it gets a little mental. Sometimes it's a little thing but we'll work on it.”
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