Maryland basketball had a chance to solidify its road momentum against Northwestern on Wednesday, but turnovers and lack of production from both the bench and freshmen loomed large in a three-point loss. Still, the Terps had a chance to sneak out of Evanston with a win after a three from Jahmir Young briefly put Maryland ahead with just under 30 seconds remaining, but a defensive lapse handed the Terps its gut-wrenching last-minute loss. Athletic director Damon Evans noted "playing well and not winning is not what we want here at the University of Maryland" after Jahmir Young led the way once again with a game-high 36 points. “I'll be very, very candid—Jahmir Young was outstanding last night and we wasted a 36 point effort by him. That young man is playing his tail off, and when he does that, we should be winning basketball games,” Evans said on his weekly radio appearance on 105.7. “This is the University of Maryland and the expectations here are high.” A win at Northwestern was a chance to add its second Quad One win of the season as it hopes to inch closer to bubble conversation, but Maryland’s bleak postseason outlook is a humbling reality in Kevin Willard’s second season as head coach. Maryland will honor former head coach Lefty Driesell during Sunday’s home game against Michigan State, a game that Evans noted, “if we can't get up for the game on Sunday, then something's wrong.” But after coming up short in another close game, Maryland’s at-best fringe bubble status provides more concern as the program is at risk of missing the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three seasons. “It’s always my goal. The rich history and tradition of basketball at the University of Maryland, my expectations are extremely high. This is a program that when we talked about tournament, this should be something that that's not the goal because that these should be a foregone conclusion for a program like ours. Our goal should be to get deep into the tournament. And we've got to figure out how to do that, guys. We've got to figure out how to get past where we are. I still have ultimate confidence in our team. I believe…Willard is doing a really, really good job for us, but I don't want people to think that I'm just sitting back here content. Willard's not content. He and I talk and he's doing his job and he's going to turn this thing around, but make no mistake about it—expectations are high here and we've got to perform at a much higher level.” Everything that AD Damon Evans said on Thursday morning: On Wednesday’s loss vs. Northwestern “I’ve liked the way that our team is playing ever since the second half of the Michigan game. We didn't play well the first half of the Michigan game. The second half of the Michigan game, we've found our pudding. Then we go to Illinois, we play a complete game and I thought we played well last night. But again, playing well and not winning is not what we want here at the University of Maryland. I'll be very, very candid—Jahmir Young was outstanding last night and we wasted a 36-point effort by him. That young man is playing his tail off, and when he does that, we should be winning basketball games. This is the University of Maryland and the expectations here are high. I like some of the things I'm seeing. Jordan Geronimo had a good overall game, stepped up, made some shots. Donta looking like the Donta of old. But we've got to have more people help us out. We can't have guys who play guard for us and we've got guys, and I think we have four other guards play and combined, they had zero points. The number of turnovers that we have, allowing them to score a bucket with 2.9 seconds to go in the half. When you look at a game at this close, one less turnover, you don't let the guy drive at the end of the half. These games are about possession. And we've got to stop shooting ourselves in the foot. If we do that, we have a chance, but if we don't play a little bit more sound basketball, we're going to find ourselves in the same situation.” On former head coach Lefty Driesell being honored during Sunday’s Michigan St. game “I agree with you wholeheartedly. First, I'm just excited to recognize and to honor Lefty and those players who played in that era. I mean, wow. What a job that he did for us while he was here putting this program on the map. He always talking about making us the UCLA of the east and the number tournament appearances, the number of ACC championships, the number of high rankings. He was the best, fantastic for us. So extremely honored. Yeah, you're right. Now if we can't get up for the game on Sunday, then something's wrong. We need to go out there and represent this program and take care of business against Michigan State. And they're going to be a formidable opponent. You know, Izzo will have them ready and they're going to come in here to try to kick our you know what. So I'm confident in that we'll be prepared and honor Lefty the right way.” On what Damon Evans can do to get the money and people for NIL “I have to make sure that, within the rules, that I put mechanisms in place, that we put mechanisms in place to where we can raise money for NIL. Whether that’s the new One Maryland collective we started, whether that's partnering with OpenDorse, whether that's promoting NIL opportunities for student-athletes. And we're going to do that here. I talked about it last week and I'm going to continue to pound it. But make no mistake about it. This is the new world. We have to compete in it. We will compete it. But I'll sit here and say this just as well. It's a great opportunity for our donor base to help out. I know a lot of people don't like. We’ve got to embrace change. Change is here. It's upon us. We can sit here and talk about, well, we don't want this, or we don't want that. This is what it's about today. But also I’m going to sit here and say I'm not going to put it solely on NIL. I see programs out there have raised tons of NIL dollars and they don't do well at all. You still have to recruit the right talent and the right fit for what you're trying to do and you've got to develop players as well. We'll take a look at Washington’s football team. I don't think they have one five-star kid on the football team and they were in the national championship game. Players make great coaches, but coaches also have to develop players and coach them up. So there's so many different things that we have to do, but NIL is a top priority for us.” On how Maryland’s non-revenue teams are faring “I really want to give a shoutout to Alex Clemsen and our wrestling program. The Big Ten is the toughest wrestling confidence in the country. And he came in with a plan and it's interesting. I've been watching that plan and the process and it's coming to fruition. Had a big win over Northwestern, 29-15 for the first Big Ten win of the year and just our third all-time. So that tells you about how difficult this conference is. So I'm excited about where they're headed. #23 gymnastics is off to a good start. As you mentioned, we’ve got lacrosse and men’s and women’s lax, softball tennis practicing. So we're getting geared up for spring sports. Unfortunately, our women's basketball team took a hard loss against Ohio State last night as well. It wasn't a good night for basketball last night. So hopefully both of those programs will bounce back.” Related Links
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