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Kevin Willard on Ja'Kobi Gillespie, fanbase, Washington's Hail Mary win

Writer's picture: Ahmed GhafirAhmed Ghafir

One week away from the season-opener vs. Manhattan, Maryland men’s basketball head coach Kevin Willard joined JP Finlay and Brian Mitchell on 106.7 The Fan to talk about what’s expected of new starting point guard, Ja’Kobi Gillespie, why he’s confident about the team and the game-winning Hail Mary in Washington on Sunday.

 

On Ja’Kobi Gillespie’s impact

 

“Ja’Kobi’s a point guard but also, at the same time, we could move him to the two guard spot because he can shoot the basketball so well. Again, when you lose Jahmir young, you're not going to replace Jahmir. We didn't want to put the pressure on Ja’Kobi, like, Hey, you have to go out do what Jahmir did. But we needed to find someone that was going to be able to make open shots with Derik and JuJu in the post, be a very high percentage off catch and shoot, which Ja’Kobi was, but also a guy that could run the show but also move to the two-guard spot at times and be a little bit more of a scorer.”

 

On the fanbase

 

“Our fans are great. We have a passionate fan base. Everyone's like, ‘oh’, you know – it's a tough fan base. I’m like go to Newark on a Tuesday night. It’s a passionate fan base that wants to win, that expects to win, and they should. I mean, it's this tradition, not only of basketball, women's basketball, football, soccer, lacrosse. We have a great sports tradition here at the University of Maryland. It's just not one square. I think that's why I love this place so much. It's just not one sport. We have so many great sports, so many great national championships across the spectrum, that our fan base expects that. That’s something that we have to deliver on. That's something that I love. I love that pressure. I love the fact that our fan base wants that.”

 

On Washington’s game-winning hail marry to beat Chicago

 

“I had eight great hours yesterday on a Sunday. I got to watch the Ravens and then you get to watch the Commanders. And it was — I tell you what, those two young quarterbacks for both those teams, the Bears and obviously [Jayden] Daniels, are just special young men. I mean, the way they both kind of will their teams to victory. But that last second play you're sitting there going, man, it this stuff's never going to work, and to see he juked, he jogged and then to throw that pass. I'm so happy for the Commanders fans because it's just unbelievable.”

 

“He's so much fun to watch. He's a lot like Lamar [Jackson], just younger and obviously not as big and physical, but it's just so much fun to watch him, and he's got such poise about him. Even that whole play, it looked like he understood what was going to go on and he has so much confidence.”

 

On settling into the DMV

 

“I think it's phenomenal, and I mean, a phenomenal sports town. And I when I say town, I say the DMV. I mean, we have great teams, coaches, players. I really started to enjoy just the fact of how passionate the fanbases are for every team, whether you're Commanders, Ravens, Capitals, Terps, Georgetown. I mean, we have so many great teams and great sports here. It took a little time to kind of find that who do I root for? And then you realize that you can root for everybody. Because it really is – Baltimore is the ravens, DC, Northern Virginia is Commanders. And, you know, I'm a huge hockey fan, so we’ve got the Capitals. The Orioles [were] playing great. So I think you have everything here – you have great basketball, great football, baseball. It's really kind of, I think it's so cool to be in such a passionate fan base and not a huge area.”

 

On putting a team together and finding a Jayden Daniels-type personality

 

“Jayden is one of those special, I think, once in a generational talents and he has the leadership skills. But I think you definitely, as you build a team, last year we had Jahmir Young was for two years was just a heart and soul this basketball team, and really put this program on its back. And so when you try to replace a Jahmir young, you do look for someone that has the same attributes that he had when. Jahmir had unbelievable character and unbelievable work ethic. And that's something I think Jayden shows every day.”

 

On whether there’s a moment that a coach can tell his team has the ‘it’ factor

 

“I've always felt when your best player is the most selfish player. I've always felt like that's when you know you can have a great team. When your best player knows that, ‘hey, it's okay if I only get 12 points tonight because you know they're double teaming me and I'll sacrifice that’. When your best player, in my opinion, is your most unselfish player that's when it clicks for you and you say, okay, you know, we can be special. Because, yeah, we might need him to get 28 tomorrow night. But he's willing only get 12 and take away a little bit because someone else is cooking and I think that's the most important thing.”

 

On the state of the team one week away from the season-opener

 

“Obviously, last year we struggled shooting the basketball mightily and one of the things that we did, mostly through the transfer portal, was bring some guys in that not only were guys were good numbers on catch-and-shoot but were guys that can make tough shots when you need them to make tough shots. And that was one of the issues we had last year was Jahmir was the one guy that we had to always had to take the tough shot. And in this league, in the Big Ten, as deep it is, you're going to get some shots when the shot clocks running down and just to have one guy be able to take that shot puts a lot of pressure on him. So I have a lot of excitement. I love the way we're progressing. I like the way we're working. We got a young freshman from Baltimore – Derik Queen is going to be a special player. I think everyone's going to love watching them play and how he plays. We’re big inside – Julian Reese, one of the best centers in college basketball, returning. You add Derik to him so our front line is, we can score two different positions which was really struggled with last year. I'm excited about this team.”

 

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