Maryland is in the midst of a week-long break between games before making the trip to East Lansing with a chance to split the season series. The Terps’ last loss came against the Spartans after Jahmir Young’s turnover on the final possession cemented a 61-59 loss, but Maryland has won consecutive games to get back to .500 in conference play since then as head coach Kevin Willard breaks down what his team learned from the first matchup.
“I think the biggest thing, facing them for the first time which this group did, understanding their speed and how fast they get the basketball out, it’s really hard to practice. So I do think, they were able, much better, to get back and get set in the second half against them. It’s going to be dirty and faster at home so I think that’s our biggest challenge for Saturday,” Willard said Wednesday.
“I think just playing them in general before really helps, but obviously just being last week or two weeks ago, definitely I think it’s a little bit more fresh in their minds, definitely.”
After losing by 15 at Wisconsin, Michigan State overcame a narrow halftime deficit to throttle Michigan in East Lansing on Tuesday night in an 81-62 win. While Tyson Walker was the one who shined against Maryland, it was Jaden Akins who came up big for the Spartans against Michigan after finishing with a game-high 23 points as one of four in double figures. Still, Willard doesn’t see much difference between the two teams heading into the rematch.
“Really, not that much different. I knew growing pains were going to happen the first time we saw certain teams—Purdue being one of them, Michigan State being one of them, Iowa being one of them. There’s certain teams in this league that are just, I think if you don’t have experience playing against them, it’s very hard to explain to kids that haven’t gone through it. We were eighth in the country defensively, now we’re sixth so I guess we’re a little bit better.”
Saturday’s win vs. Nebraska served as a breakout game for Jamie Kaiser Jr. after finishing with a career-high 14 points in 18 minutes, while DeShawn Harris-Smith added nine points on 4-of-6 shooting as the two freshmen have shown signs of progression through January. “My biggest thing with them is just, I’ve been really, really patient and positive,” Willard said of the freshmen duo. “They’ve been playing great. They’ve had great spurts. They’ve struggled at times, but I think they’re starting to go the other way on the fact that their struggles are very, very far and few between now, especially on the defensive. They’ve really picked it up. They’ve worked hard at it and they’ve really helped us.”
Of course, Maryland’s turnaround has been sparked by Jahmir Young, who was snubbed from the Bob Cousy finalist list earlier this week, as the star guard leads college basketball in scoring against Quad One opponents. Donta Scott’s improved efficiency has also bolstered the Terps’ scoring efforts as Willard pointed to the time it took his fifth-year senior to get acclimated to his role.
“For the most part, most of our struggles early were because of Donta. I can put it all on him. It wasn’t my fault at all, it was really all of Donta’s [fault],” Willard said. “He had a major change to go from a power forward to a small forward. That was major. It doesn’t seem like much, but everything that he was used to last year from a defensive standpoint, from an offensive standpoint, changed. And because of our injuries early on to Cal [Swanton-Rodger], to Jordan [Geronimo] and obviously Chance [Stephens], we were not able to really smoothly transition him and give him enough reps for him to be comfortable early in the season. And I think what you saw early in the season was a lot of confusion of what he was trying to figure out from moving from four years of a power forward and even I think his sophomore year, he played some center, to now moving into a strictly perimeter player. And that was a lot for a fifth-year guy to have to try to transition. And I think what you’re seeing now is Donta’s very comfortable. He’s playing at a high level and both offensively and defensively, and because he’s much more comfortable in what he’s doing, he’s playing much better. So that’s a long answer as I screwed him up early in the year.”
More from Kevin Willard:
On how Maryland has progressed
“I’ve said it all year. I think DeShawn [Harris-Smith] and Jamie [Kaiser Jr.] and Jahn [Lamothe], I think these young guys are, I’m more excited about the future than I was six months ago when they first got on campus. I think they’re making great stride and again, I think all the new guys are kind of understanding what we do defensively. Offensively, I don’t think we’re ever going to be a juggernaut just because of some of the pieces that we lost early, being a little bit young at some positions and being new to an offensive system. I’m very pleased with the way these guys have worked. Their attitudes been great. [We’ve] still got ten more games to go so still two months left in the season.”
On Jahmir Young’s leadership impact on the team
“Jahmir has been pivotal to help us kind of get to establish what we’re trying to do in this program. He’s been everything. He brings it every day in practice. He brings a great attitude every day in practice. He’s been great helping us with recruits. Jahmir has been awesome.”
On how Willard got Maryland to buy into defense
“I think each team is uniquely different, and especially in today’s age of college basketball, college football, I think your team’s identity is going to change year to year dramatically. And I think with some of the pieces we added we got much tougher than we did last year. We lost some shooting, we lost some skills at certain positions, but we added some toughness and I think it just took this team a while to kind of figure out what’s the one thing that they’re going to be able to rely in game and game out. And I think for the most part, I have a simple philosophy: If you play hard and you do what I want, I’ll let you shoot any shot you want to do so they kind of like it.”
On Maryland’s second-half defensive adjustments
“We watch film at halftime. And I’ve gotten used to utilizing the film in the huddles, which I think is great. It takes some time and it’s, I’m still not all the way there yet with using it but I’m a big believer and we just go in and we just watch what teams are doing against us defensively and we just try to make minor adjustments, nothing major. We always go into each game with two different gameplans. Sometimes the first half works like it did against Nebraska the other night, and sometimes it doesn’t and you have to make it make a change. And these guys have been very good at halftime of understanding what teams are trying to do. And they’ve been very good at the adjustments we’ve made at halftime. So a lot, like that’s where DeShawn and Jamie at the beginning of the year, if we try to make an adjustment, they would not. They would still, you’d have four guys doing one thing, one guy doing what we’re doing [in] the first half. That doesn’t happen anymore. So now you see freshmen who really get it, who really understand it, who are actually helping us more defensively than they were earlier in the year.”
On Julian Reese’s performance and development through conference play
“I’ve said this now a year and a half, I think Julian is probably the best big man in the country for what we ask him to do and what he has to go against day in, day out. I mean, obviously Zach [Edey] but you’ve got to throw him out because I mean, he’s just one of a kind. So, I mean he’s special. But I think, day in day out, Julian has been phenomenal. Pick and roll defense, he’s gotten much better. He’s one of the only big guys that gets doubled consistently besides Zach in the league. He has gotten doubled the last five games consistently, either on the bounce or on the touch. I watch every other game in this conference and not too many other big guys are getting doubled the way he is. He’s handled that really well. I think the biggest place where Julian has matured is the fact that he’s gotten a little bit older so some of his struggles are not, where last year some of his struggles would lead to him having [an] okay game. If he struggles early now, I don’t get worried about him, that having a lasting effect. He’s matured. I think he understands that he’s going to be out there for 37, 38 minutes and he’s played phenomenal.”
On how DeShawn Harris-Smith and Jamie Kaiser Jr. have progressed compared to expectations
“Patience. I kind of said it and no one listened, but I kind of knew we were going to struggle early just because of, I knew we were going to have to rely on them a lot and they are talented and they are good and they are going to be really, really good. But this era in college basketball until really next year is over, it’s unfair to every freshman coming in because they’re just going up against guys that understand the game. [They] are stronger, older, 24 years old against 18-year-olds. So my biggest thing with them is just, I’ve been really, really patient and positive. They’ve been playing great. They’ve had great spurts. They’ve struggled at times, but I think they’re starting to go the other way on the fact that their struggles are very, very far and few between now, especially on the defensive. They’ve really picked it up. They’ve worked hard at it and they’ve really helped us.”
On Julian Reese’s efficiency shooting outside the paint
“We’ve been working hard. It’s a work in progress, but he’s working at it…I would say we’re halfway there. We’ve gotten it to be much smoother, his free throw is much better but that’s eventually something that he’s going to have to do…would I love to see him do it? Absolutely, but for his future. But he also knows where his bread and butter is. He enjoys being down low. He’s one of those rare kids that understands he can expand this game, but he likes being down low.”
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May 18, 2024