Everything that head coach Kevin Willard had to say after Maryland men’s basketball suffered its first loss of the season, falling to 15th-ranked Marquette, 78-74, inside the Xfinity Center:
On what the loss vs. Marquette showed his team
“I think this is why you play these early season tests. You got to see where you at. That's a good basketball team, extremely well coached. That's why I wanted to test these guys early with this, Villanova game going into Big Ten play with Ohio State and Purdue. I was really proud of these guys effort. Really loved the way they kept battling. Just getting a new team to understand the value of every possession. And that's – the crowd was phenomenal and that was the first time those guys have played in this building. So the more they're in it, the more they see it, the more they're going to grow.”
On late-game free throws looming large
“It's a major fault. I probably played guys too many minutes, but at that point in the game, they're playing guys, 32, 32, 35 minutes. You got to go with the guys. They're out. It's really hard to sit on the bench for 14 minutes and then come in and play. We had good opportunities. [Ja’Kobi Gillespie] missed a tough layup at the break. Rodney [Rice] had a fastbreak layup that we miss a couple opportunities that we could have left that. [Julian Reese] missed a dunk early in the half which I thought kind of changed momentum a little bit. We had our opportunities. We’ll learn from it and we'll get better from it.”
On 13 turnovers, including 9 in the first half
“Yeah, but we also just, we tried three full court length of the passes. We had six turnovers that were unforced so a little bit of getting used to playing in a building that they haven't seen yet was a little bit, I think, new for them. So I think as great as it helped us defensively in the first half, it kind of gave us a little bit of a jitters on the offensive end. And that's something that when you have a new team, you have some guys and you have some transfers that haven't played in an environment like this, it's good to kind of see how they react, and the more they get you. I still remember Jahmir’s first couple games in this building was a nightmare, and then he got used to it, and then they became unbelievable. So it's a learning experience, especially this early in the season.”
On two points in 25 minutes from Julian Reese
“They did an unbelievable job with just being really physical with them early. And Ju got a little frustrated. The game was a much more up and down game than I thought it was going to be. And it's just tough to get – they did a good job of just battling, battling balance. It's the one thing with Derik and Ju that we got to kind of figure out a little bit. It's just kind of getting them in better spots.”
On late-game defense to force turnovers in the final minute
“We gave ourselves opportunities. I think we got down six, hit a big three, got a turnover, and we got to the free-throw line. I think [Selton Miguel] missed a one-and-one, DQ missed one, and obviously DeShawn missed two, so five free throws in the last minute and that's part of the growing process of being in tight games. We’ve won our first three games by 30 points. There was no pressure on anything. So now to see guys and see how they handle the pressure, that's just a good learning experience.”
On Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Derik Queen taking the reins of the game
“I think just the matchup sort of – obviously you're going to have the ball in [Ja’Kobi’s] hands just because he's your best playmaker and a guy that can make shots. But Derik in the high post against them. He had the size advantage against Joplin, and he had the speed advantage against Gold. So it was more or less putting those two guys in certain situations to kind of let them go. And again, they were doing a really good job on Ju, just battling and battling, and they did a good job on our pick and rolls of being physical. And so sometimes just got to ride the guys who are.”
On finding defensive balance inside and out vs. Marquette
“Again, I think this is all learning curve. Like we try to switch up our pick and roll coverage with Kam to try to go trap him and we didn't trap him one time. And again, that's a little bit of there's things that you practice, and there's things of game slippage. And that's all a learning curve. And that's all something that we'll watch film and we'll get better at. And I thought Kam was phenomenal. I thought he just kind of played like a first team all-Big East player that he is. He put them on their back and just played phenomenal. I thought our intensity was great. We just got again, finishing possessions on the defensive end is just as important as finishing possessions on the offensive end. And we haven't had to do that yet, and we'll get there.”
On first vs. second-half three-point shooting
“It's just nerves in that first half. I mean, it really is. I mean – don't know if any of you guys have played basketball, but if you've ever played in a really loud building your first time and you ever been pumped up and juiced up, there's things that you do that you're usually not used to doing. And that's a little bit of the learning curve. That's why I'm excited about this team is they kind of battled and did some really good things in an environment that was phenomenal, in an environment that they're just not used to playing in. [Ja’Kobi] has never had a home court advantage like that. Selton hasn't. Even Deshawn, you know, because we got off such a bad start, we never really got momentum last year. So this is a team that's going to get some momentum and play really well.”
On the message to DeShawn Harris-Smith after missing two free throws with 15 seconds left
“Gotta go up and shoot him again. He's a big boy. He'll be all right. He's gonna – he'll be in the gym tomorrow, and he'll learn, and he'll keep on working at it, and he'll make the next one. So I have confidence him. He was out there for a reason. So that's part of sports. You don't make every game winning shot. You don't make every game winning play and you have to learn from it and get back in the gym and just be a big boy.”
On the developing rotation
“It just got to the point where he, Shaka [Smart], was keeping his guys in and at that point in the game, if you've been sitting for eight, nine, ten minutes, it's tough to sub at that point. These guys have to learn how to fight through and again, I think it's good experience for you know, Derik was – to play 35 minutes and be as effective as he was I thought was phenomenal. Same thing with Ja’Kobi. I mean, all these guys will play these minutes. I think that will be very valuable in the future.”
On the late-game officiating
“It’s a good last question.”
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