Maryland basketball head coach Kevin Willard praises Queen, talks Grand Canyon, compares 2025 Terps to 2020 Seton Hall team

Ahmed Ghafir
Mar 18
4 min read

Maryland men’s basketball is set to take the floor at Climate Pledge Arena at 1:15 PM PST on Thursday before taking on 13th-seed Grand Canyon on Friday at 4:35 on TBS as head coach Kevin Willard breaks down his team and program’s second tournament appearance in three seasons.

On Grand Canyon

“Well, I can tell you. I mean, Bryce Drew is one of the best coaches in this country. I mean, this is the third year in row he's gone. He's got a great group. They're talented. They’ve got big guys inside that can score. Their guards are dynamic. They post you up. They can go off the dribble. But I just think the fact that he's been there three years in a row just shows you how good a coach Bryce is.”

On Derik Queen’s freshman season

“First of all, Roy, there is no way he's going to Georgetown. You wasted your time. I'm not letting the Baltimore kid go to Georgetown. Baltimore kids are staying in Maryland. No. I mean, I think what makes Derik so unique is the fact that he has an old school feel to the way he plays basketball. He just has a great – he knows when he's got a smaller guy on him, he can go down low and post up. He knows when he's got a bigger guy and we can take him off the dribble. He has been, he's worked really hard at his body. And I think the biggest thing, he loves the game of basketball, he's a great teammate, and it's been such a pleasure to coach them, even though I'm not going to coach him much longer because I'm going to be watching him hopefully with the Wizards.”

On the roster construction plan heading into the season

“I think the big thing Jon is, we knew we had - Julian Reese was one of the most under-talked about guys in college basketball, and I knew I had Julian and Derik. So the big thing for us was, let's get guys around him that can make shots, that shoot the basketball over 40% off catch-and-shoot threes. And Rodney Rice, Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Selton Miguel have been just phenomenal working off the two big guys, which sometimes isn't easy, but they've done a great job of understanding how to work with Julian and how to work with Derik. And it really was building a roster around those two big guys.”

On whether traveling across the country during the regular season helps in postseason

“I think it's what's great about the Big Ten Conference, is we have so many great coaches, great players but I think the biggest thing is that we see so many different styles of basketball. We've been out west already. We've gone, played out Oregon, played at Washington. So I'm actually excited about going out west. I think it's a great opportunity for us because we've been out there before. We understand what the time change is all about. So I think the once we got kind of used to the different styles, I think these guys really bought into how we had to play – our defensive toughness and how we wanted to play offensively. So the Big Ten, it's such a good basketball conference, but it gives you a unique ability to play against so many great coaches.”

On how the 2025 Maryland team compares to Willard’s 2020 Seton Hall team

“We're a little bit different in the fact that I think my starting five that year was a little bit more dependent on a little guy that could really shoot the basketball from just about anywhere and wasn't afraid to shoot it from anywhere. This team's a little bit more balanced. I think we can get you from five different guys at any given night. I think the other thing, the Seton Hall team had two seven-footers that were great shot blockers. They weren't necessarily back to the basket buckets but we could be more aggressive on defense because it was a block party when [teams] went down there. So similar in the fact that I love being around this group. They're a great group of guys. They like me. They like each other. In the portal era, I think it's been really fun to be with a bunch of guys we just brought in to have such a good group that like being around each other.”

On the team’s schedule heading into the NCAA Tournament

“We actually just got done with our with our first film session with Grand Canyon. So we've already dove into it a little bit. I think the biggest thing with our guys is just getting our mindset that, you know, we weren't overly happy with the way the season ended. We didn't play over the well against Michigan in the Big Ten semifinals. So to understand that we're going to play against a very experienced team, that we have to practice and get ready, I think that's the big thing with this group, is when we practice well, we play well. So over the next couple days, obviously watching film, already. They wanted to watch film so we already watched film tonight. We'll get back after practice, and we'll get out to the west coast a little bit early. Have some team time, and then get ready to play against a very good Grand Canyon team.”

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