Maryland trailed by as many as 12 points against Michigan on Thursday night, but Donta Scott would be the one to step up after scoring 20 of his game-high 22 points in the second half, helping to give Maryland a 64-57 comeback win. Maryland outscored Michigan, 43-24, in the second half after knocking down six triples over the final 20 minutes.
Thursday’s win marks Maryland’s first home win after trailing by double digits at halftime since Feb. 26, 2020.
DeShawn Harris-Smith was able to find his groove, finishing with ten points and five rebounds while Julian Reese blocked five shots and secured his seventh double-double of the season. Jahmir Young was the fourth Terp to finish in double figures to help Maryland pick up its first win in 2024.
Everything that Maryland head coach Kevin Willard, Donta Scott, Julian Reese and DeShawn Harris-Smith said after the win vs. Michigan:
Willard on Donta Scott’s performance
“Donta’s been playing like that in practice all year and he’s been playing really good over the last four games. He had some good looks in the first half and we struggled in the first half. I think he was upset with himself at halftime and he came out and he was very, very animated in the huddle before we went out and he just did what a senior does.”
Donta Scott on how his energy lifted Maryland in the second half
“I don’t think I really lifted to the rest of the team. I feel like they lifted me up more than I lifted him up. Once I got going and the energy started kicking in, everyone started to feed off my energy, that’s when we just started going and getting better and better on the defensive end, and the offense just started coming to us.”
Willard on Donta’s two early threes
“I keep telling these guys like, the way, as hard as they play in the defensive end is what I see every day in practice. And what happened in the second half is what I see every day in practice. And I just, I keep I’m like you guys got to reward yourself eventually. The fans aren’t going to cheer because you keep getting defensive stops. It’s just, that’s not the way fans work. They want to see the ball going in the hoop. And I said, you guys, I mean, we held them to seven points, but we have six at home. It’s kind of mind boggling. So eventually they just, they relax and see the ball go in and really helped.”
Willard on beating Michigan at home before two road games
“We’re pretty much at a must-win in every game. So, I mean, that’s kind of how the game, the beginning of the season kind of put us behind the eight ball, but I also think that this is a team that if we can get better offensively, the way we play defensively is going to give us a good chance.”
Willard on DeShawn Harris-Smith’s aggression around the rim
“DeShawn’s been putting a lot of work in every morning and the gym. He’s still trying to figure out Big Ten basketball and I love the fact that he came out in the second half, he wanted the basketball. He made the first aggressive drive of the half. He’s been working hard. He’s obviously frustrated with the way he’s shooting the basketball, but for a freshman [who’s] playing the minutes he’s played. He’s the second leader in plus-minus on the team. I just try to keep telling them what positive things that he does. He’s such a great passer. He can get other guys involved. DeShawn plays 34 minutes and Jamie Kaiser [Jr.] plays 31 minutes. There’s no other team in college at the high level playing two freshmen that many minutes. So for those guys and DeShawn and Jamie to play that well, I think is really, really encouraging.”
Harris-Smith on adjusting to the Big Ten
“It’s definitely a blessing for both of us to come in and play right away, be impactful right away. I mean, it’s definitely hard being like the youngest one on the team going out there playing, like you said, 30 minutes, but I just feel like as I get more games under my belt, I’m going to get more comfortable. I’m getting more confidence and the game will start slowing down for me. I feel like it’s happening right now. Like, I feel like today is going to be like the stepping stone and I hope I can build from this game. Just being more impactful on offense and like on defense, like I’ve been doing.”
Willard on Julian Reese’s defensive presence
“I get on [Julian Reese] a lot because I just, I think he’s the best big man in the country and I expect him to play like that all the time. I think sometimes because he knows he’s got to be out there a lot, he gets a little lazy on defense. So he’ll be the first one to tell you that. But, you know, I think he’s the best big guy. So anything he does doesn’t surprise me. I mean, that’s just Julian.”
Willard on Maryland’s full court defense
“I mean, I think in the second half, I think we scored four times in a row at one point. And just to be able to work [Jaelin] Llewellyn. That poor young man played his heart off. I was so impressed with how well he played for the fact that he got thrown into the fire and I thought he played great, but the whole thing was just wear him down, wear him down, wear him down. So he wouldn’t be able to make shots down the stretch.”
Willard on Julian Reese’s early touches in the second half
“We try to throw him the basketball as much as possible…he got the first six touches in the first half and they just did a great job double-teaming him. So we went away from our post offense trying to get him the basketball pick and rolls so they couldn’t double them.”
Willard on Maryland’s second-half defense
“I think the biggest thing is we switched from his own press to our man press just because we gave them, got a dunk. 42, got two open threes in the corner against our zone press because they were putting two shooters out there. So we just switched up to our man press and just try to make it a little bit more difficult for them to bring it up and get into their stuff. Juwan [Howard] runs great sets. I mean, he’s got a great offensive package so just trying to get them out of their flow was probably the biggest thing we changed up.”
Reese on late-game stops on defense
“That was definitely a great feeling, especially coming off a game with a lot of foul trouble. And just playing defense and getting the stops in clutch moments. It’s a good feeling for me and it’s a good confidence booster.”
Willard on what Willard can do to reinforce how they played through the rest of 2023-24 season
“I wish I had a really good answer for that, but I don’t. I mean, I see that every day in practice. That’s my frustrating thing. I guess that’s where I get frustrated at times is that’s the way that group plays most of the time in practice. I just think it’s sometimes because we’ve struggled to shoot so much that struggle has just led to everything else struggling. So sometimes you just got to see the ball go in the hoop. And I think that was the magic elixir, to be honest with you.”
Willard on whether press style is how Maryland thrives
“I think it’s a way we have to play. But it’s also, we’re built much differently than we were last year. It’s one reason our press has started, it’s starting, I’ve changed the way we’re press. Let’s just put it that way. Which making that adjustment mid-year has taken some time, but we’ve gone from a zone press. We went to man. We also put up a three-quarter court press in just because we’re bigger than we were last year. Last year Don [Carey] and Jahmir [Young] really understood how to work a 2-2-1 and drop back into it. With having Jamie out there, with having Donta in a new position, with having DeShawn out there, we just haven’t been as effective as we were with the same press. So we’re trying to press, we also haven’t just scored enough to really, I hate to say it, get good. You can practice it all you want, but until you go into a game and make game mistakes and make game adjustments, you know, it’s real easy to sit there and practice and say, okay, this is what they’re going to run. This is what they’re going to do. But when you’ve miss seven shots in a row and then you have to press, it’s a little bit different. We’ve had to switch it around a little bit, just cause our personnel is much different.”
Willard on the message at halftime
“We watched film at halftime. So we just watched our offense and saw what was open, where we were open. We missed eight open shots in the first half so sometimes you just have to show them sometimes like, Hey, you guys are getting good shots. We’re going to make shots. Just keep doing things. We watched how they guarded Ju’s post-ops and then we watched how they were defending Jahmir’s pick and rolls. And sometimes you got to show them what’s open, where it’s going on. But that’s all we that’s all we do at halftime. I don’t yell. I don’t, we just make adjustments off film.”
Willard on whether there’s any concern with bench minutes
“College basketball usually plays seven at the most, maybe seven and a half. There’s so many timeouts in the second half. They sit more than they play in the second half. There’s five three and a half minutes time out. So I don’t know what that equals but equals a lot. So for the most part, just about everywhere in college basketball places, seven to seven and a half guys. The only time you really play more is if you get in foul trouble.”
Scott on early three-pointers
“Gave me a little bit of confidence ’cause I already knew I can make shots. It was just a matter of time before I did it. Once I made them, I already knew that I can make a couple more once I got them up. So I said why not?”
Julian Reese on whether must-win mentality was felt at halftime
“I feel like we kind of had a realization moment. It was kind of taking them [for granted] and we weren’t really coming out how we were supposed to how we’ve been practicing, how we’ve prepared. I feel like since we’ll be able to turn around with. It’s just a good, some good energy going into the next game and just a building block for what’s to come.”
Scott on the impact of his first-half poster dunk
“It gave us some energy. It really kicked in our defense cause there’s one time I had a dunk, we were able to get on our press and we’re able to get a couple of stops. Even though we didn’t capitalize the most stops, it gave us energy, it gave us life and it gave the crowd life.”
Harris-Smith on his most points scored in one month
“I wouldn’t say I was more comfortable. I just feel like I just had a different mindset like just to go out there and play, not worried about if I’m making or missing shots. Just go out there and give it my all. And I feel like when I go out there and just play 100%, good things are going to happen for me. I just feel like I’m a scrappy player. I’m gonna take charges, get steals and stuff like that. And I just believe in like basketball karma. You going out there, giving it your all, the ball will go in eventually.”
Harris-Smith on his defensive mindset and impact on his confidence
“Coach Willard told me one of the reasons he recruited me is because even when I’m not scoring, I find a way to impact the game. Juju tells me that all the time. He likes playing with me because I don’t need the ball in my hands to be impactful. So I just feel like I gotta be the best defender on the team. I got to play harder than everybody else. Especially when my shot is not falling, ‘cause what else I’m going to do while I’m out there? I can’t just go out there running around and stuff. I feel like it’s just my job to give my team energy. Be the scrappy player, trying to guard the best player, take charges. Like I said, get steals, extra rebound and stuff like that. And then like tonight, eventually your shot will fall if you just keep the positive energy.”
Scott on his battles with Michigan F Will Tschetter
“It’s a big thing where I come from if you talk trash to somebody. You know they go right back at you. And I felt like I tried to take a charge. Normally they say on the second bump, when bump bump, they’re going to go around. But normally they give you the charge, which I got majority of the time. But the stare down is what got me and as I stared down, I knew he couldn’t stop me.”
Scott on Maryland’s three-point shooting success
“I feel like once we saw the ball go in, it just gave us a new outlook. It really just helped us see that even though we didn’t make shots early on, it’s a lot of game to go on…and we’re just gonna have to keep shooting and they going to fall because we do these on practice, we take shots at product is. Lot of shots at practice and we see a lot of them go in. Once it got to the game, we just knew eventually it would go in. So just seeing those first couple go in gave everybody confidence.”
Harris-Smith on disappointment not playing Dug McDaniel
“I was talking to him all like the whole season, all excited to play him. That’s my best friend. I talk to him all the time, even though we don’t go over to the same school. So I was definitely excited to play against him, but I mean, when the news came out, I just told him to keep his head up. I mean, like life’s bigger than basketball. So I wanted to play against him, I wanted to compete against him. I still want to make sure he’s already in the right mind space to keep having a great season like he is.”
Related Links
Mike Locksley linked to Alabama job as Kalen Deboer, Mike Norvell emerge
Maryland tracking in-state speedster with steady contact (+)
Damon Evans doesn’t shy away from Maryland basketball’s struggles, NIL efforts
Kevin Willard admits Maryland is at the point “where every game is really important”
Towering Virginia tackle eyeing return visit to Maryland (+)