Everything head coach Kevin Willard said after Maryland men’s basketball picked up its first road win of the season following a 91-70 finish at 17th-ranked Illinois:
On 62 points in the paint vs. Illinois
“We knew they were down the big kid, and it was like, ‘alright, they're gonna put a freshman out there.’ Just don't even think about shooting threes. Like, just throw it in, throw it in, throw it in. Don't shoot threes. Their defense forces you to take pull up jumpers. And so I said, you know, we're gonna run a lot of empty side pick-and-roll. We're going to hit our big guys and you guys aren't going to shoot jumpers. You guys are going to just go out these young, big kids. And, you know, I really give Ja’Kobi and the guards credit because sometimes, you know, it could be a little boring to come off pick-and-roll and dump it, but we've been knocking on the door, Chris. We've been knocking on the door. And I'm happy for that group because it's a good road win.”
On the message after a three-point halftime lead
“I think the biggest thing we talked about at halftime was, really we just took I said, guys, we're in a great position. This is where we are. This is what we've done all year. Let's just now, let's clean up – we were really getting burnt on, you know, they were doing a lot of switches, slip screens to try to get [Ja’Kobi] into switches. And I said, let's just clean up that stuff. And I said just keep pounding it inside. I said eventually we're gonna knock some trees down. Eventually we'll get on the break and get some easy. I said, well, we just got to stay the course. No one sit there and be like, ‘oh, we're only up three’. I think Derik said to me, coach we've been up three. And I said, I know. I said, eventually, eventually it's going to be a good number DQ. And it was. And again, we've been close and so when you've been as close as we have to make this, I thought defensively in the second half to make the stops, we made a couple of adjustments on the pick-and-roll defense and really defended the three point line.”
On 27 points, 17 rebounds vs. Illinois for Julian Reese
“It’s a great environment. They mean they play single coverage…no doubles. In Nebraska, he sees a whole loaded up defense. So this is really the way they play. It's like the only team that really plays him single coverage. And I think he gets excited about it because he knows he's going to have single coverage. And I think the guys again, I thought the guards did a really good job with just understanding, like, ‘hey, let's just keep staying patient and keep pounding inside’ because it's gonna wear them out. It's gonna make them defend a little bit. It'll get to antsy on the offensive end, which I think it did.”
On the collective effort in Maryland’s road win
“That starting five, for the most part, has been really, really good. I thought Ja’Kobi was great again. You know, I talked to Rodney [Rice] about two minutes ago in the game, I said, ‘Rod you're plus-25.’ I said, I know you haven't scored the basketball. I said, but your value on the court. I said, you're doing great things defensively. I think they have to guard you. They're not leaving you in the corners. You're opening up the court for everybody. I said, so sometimes you got to realize that at your young age in your career, sometimes you're having a great effect on the game and that's what you got to focus on. And I thought Selton and Rodney, even though they didn't have a huge impact on the game, I thought they were stellar.”
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