Maryland secured its third consecutive 30-point win of the season on Monday after defeating Florida A&M, 84-53, and head coach Kevin Willard breaks down the win:
On his assessment of the team through three games
“I think defensively, I'm really happy with where we're at. I think we're putting really good pressure. I think we're creating some turnovers. We're getting some deflections. So I think defensively, I like where we're at and I think we can get much better defensively. Playing a lot of guys, sometimes you create some bad matchups, but I think for the most part, defensively, I'm really happy.”
On dominating the opening minutes of the game then an offensive lull
“I think anytime you sub five guys at a time, you're gonna – and then you keep subbing. I'm trying to get everybody minutes early in games to kind of get guys real game experience. And I think once we got up 15-0, the bench guys didn't come in with the same intensity that the start group came in. So I think it was a little bit of a lull on me probably playing too many guys.”
On Selton Miguel’s on-comfort comfort and chemistry
“He’s getting there. [Selton] is working hard at again, it's just third school, third offense, third coach, so. He did this last year. I have a lot of confidence in Selt.”
On forcing a pair of ten-second violations in first three minutes
“I think we played Friday, and so just to have a two day turnaround, we did this just because it's a lot what we get in Big Ten play. I liked our defensive intensity from the start. I thought it was really good. I thought it set the tone. I just didn't like our – offensively, we kind of relaxed a little bit.”
On what Willard expects the two-point vs. three-point distribution to be
“You got to take away the last 10 minutes of the game. So I think we took eight threes in the last ten minutes of the game. So it's a little misleading. We're really only taking 19 threes a game. The last six minutes the last three games have kind of, we've jacked it up a little bit to hurt our numbers a little bit.”
On Maryland’s transition offense
“I think with Ja’Kobi and Selton at the front of the press, it's much different than it was last year with Jahmir and Deshawn. Jahmir trying to save Jahmir minutes, knowing we didn't really have a backup. Deshawn is a much better second line guy because of his length, and he's really good at reading where to go and what to do. So I think the press is much more effective this year – it’s because the guys that we have on it.”
On Julian Reese’s game-high 21 points
“One of the frustrating things for – and Julian hasn't been frustrated – but when you put this many new guys out there with him, there is a learning curve to understanding where he likes the ball, when to get the ball, where to get the ball. Ja’Kobi’s never played with them, obviously, Selton’s never play with them. Derik's never played with them. So there is a time, there is a little bit of a learning curve and getting guys to understand A) how unselfish Julian is, which he has been really unselfish. But at the same time knowing that he's down there. And so we've talked about that the last, really last week and a half. And I think guys are starting to realize, I think the first time he touched it he kicked it out for a wide-open corner three. So if it goes in there, it doesn't mean it's not coming back out.”
On the early season scheduling ahead of Marquette
“Last year, we didn't really control the schedule last year. I don't really – I'm not going to talk about last year. This year was starting the Georgetown series, starting the Virginia series with the Marquette series, and not having a tournament. It really just kind of worked out that I wanted to have some home games. We'll probably do the same thing next year, besides the Georgetown game. We'll start a home game and then play Georgetown and think we're playing Marquette the second weekend, second week. So we'll have two more buy games and then play Marquette, go to Virginia right after that next year. So you try to do that last year, we didn't have any control of schedule.”
On having three different leading scorers through three games
“I do think we're definitely being more balanced. I also don't, yeah, I mean, you know, Ja’Kobi, really, I don't think Ja’Kobi has been our leading scorer yet. I think it's been Derik, [Julian Reese] and Rodney. So I do think that Ja’Kobi’s got that ability to kind of break out. He just hasn't really had the minutes. So I do think that starting unit kind of knows that there's no pressure on one guy where, obviously we felt a lot of pressure last year. If Jahmir didn't play at a certain level, we were in trouble. And I think everyone's starting to realize that, there's a lot of really good players on this team that can help everybody out.”
On how the press has developed and where it stands
“That's good question. I think we're okay right now. We're okay. My goal for this team was to be ready for Big Ten play with it because the biggest thing is we press so much different on the road than we do at home. So I think at home, it's been pretty good. But then we're gonna face something different a little bit against Villanova. We’ll press a little bit differently [against] Villanova. So I think it's okay.”
On how Queen and Reese have fared along the second line
“Derik's [an] extremely smart player. He's picked up the second line really good. The biggest thing with Derek being in the second line, we're just trying not to get hurt on that side. And he's really picked that up well. And then obviously, Ju in the back, he kind of knows what he's doing.”
On why Queen didn’t start the second half
“I didn't like the way he was playing in the first half. I just didn't like the way he was playing. It's my decision. It's a great thing about being a head coach – you get to make decisions, and all you guys get to criticize me.”
On whether Maryland can improve three-point shooting
“I think we need to take some better shots at beginning games. I think some of the shots were taken at beginning of games are a little bit rushed, a little bit out of rhythm. I think if we can get into a little better rhythm and take some better shots early in the game, I think our percentage will go up. But the fact that we're making eight of them and last year we were making one of them, I'll take that any day.”
On Ja’Kobi Gillespie committing only two turnovers through three games
“No, I think Ja’Kobi playing great. I think he's playing with great pace, and I think defensively he's been phenomenal defensively. So just letting him continue to kind of feel out his way and get a rhythm for what we need him to do at certain times, I think that's the biggest thing with him, is he's trying to figure out when he needs to be aggressive, when he needs to be a little bit more, I wouldn't say passive, but pass-first a little bit. So I think he's been great.”
On the passing of Bentley’s owner John Brown
“My first beer in College Park was at Bentley's with John. John was – man you talk to anybody that's ever had anything to do with Maryland basketball, John Brown's been a supporter. He's been a fan. He's been confidant. I know coach [Gary] Williams is really struggling. He was really, really tight with coach. He was tight with everybody. He was just someone – he was just good person. Go have a beer and sit at the bar with him and he’ll tell some great stories. We lost a very, very good, important man to Maryland basketball a couple [of] days ago.”
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