What Maryland head coach Kevin Willard, players said after 67-53 loss vs. Purdue

Maryland saw its home win streak snapped on Tuesday night at 19 consecutive conference wins and 14 consecutive home wins after falling to Purdue, 67-53. Purdue led by as many as 22 points in the second half and held a double-digit lead for the final 25:25 of action as head coach Kevin Willard saw his team play flat from beginning to end. Once again, it was Jahmir Young carrying the load for the Terps after posting 26 points while the rest of the team shot just 9-of-40 from the field. Everything that head coach Kevin Willard, Jahmir Young and Donta Scott said after the loss: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HQEqtNuMeI Willard on Maryland’s 67-53 loss vs. Purdue "We fared just like everyone else has this year. Not well. He's much more improved. I think his conditioning has improved from last year.  He’s going over both shoulders a little bit better and he's a willing passer. So, you put that body, that skill, those hands and four guys that can shoot around him, he's tough to guard." Young on what went wrong vs. Purdue “It started from the jump out of it. Two threes off the jump. They shot it really well from three and obviously we didn't. I just felt like our defensive rotations, we were a little behind. I feel like we did a pretty decent job on Edey. He's such a dominant player, but other than that, it's just defense rotations. We didn't go to three well and we didn’t shoot it well.” Young on whether Purdue loss was a wake-up call “I feel like tonight we were one step behind. They were just better than us offensively and defensively. We have to be more physical. As we all know, Big Ten is a physical league and there's no game that's going to be a drop-off or a bad game. So we gotta be ready to play from the jump, home in a way. In order to turn it around, we just got to take it one game at a time. Make sure we stick together and the rest take care of itself.” Willard on adjusting to Zach Edey down low “We tried to double him and then he kicked out and then they made a three. Then we didn't try to double him and he made a bucket. So it was kind of tough, kind of tough.” Willard on whether it was Maryland’s inability or Purdue’s gameplan that led to 19 first-half points “A little bit of both. I thought got off to a little bit of a slow start. He'd only practiced two days. So he's been, he was on the shelf for five days with that sickness. And so he practiced the last two days, but I've had to be really careful bringing him back. I think we just got off to a little bit of a slow start and again, I think we had a lot of guys seeing Zach for the first time and seeing that size. I also think they're a much better defensive team than they were last year, just because Lance Jones gives them another guy that, A, he can score, but he gives them a little bit more athleticism than they had last year in the starting lineup. And then when they sub, they come with older guys who are experienced, who started last year and they almost get better when they sub. It's a really good basketball team.” Young on suffering first home loss in over one year “It's definitely tough losing on your home court. We haven't lost here in 2023 to start the year, taking this . I mean, they're a really good team. If there's anybody I would rather lose to in this building, it would be them. But we'll bounce back. We’ve got to go one of the road and get one and get back in his building and get one. So we're going to move on. It was a tough loss.” Scott on what Purdue did in first half preventing Maryland “I wouldn't say it was them per se, obviously. I would say it’s just us. I mean, we had a lot of good looks. I missed a lot of open ones, missed a couple of bunnies and that led them to offense. So once that happens and you got someone like Edey, seven-footer, I mean, it's hard to really go on a run when you’ve got to guard somebody like that. The guy, talented player, talented team. And when you don't make shots, they make you pay for it. So that’s just what happened.” Willard on biggest struggle containing Purdue’s shooters “We didn't play very well defensively and also give them credit for the fact that offensively they really moved the ball. I mean they do that well. They work through him. And when he's passing that way, they're going to get open shots.” Willard on how frustrating the slow start was given the crowd “It was frustrating.” Willard on Jahmir Young’s performance vs. Purdue “I think would be the first to tell you that he didn't play well. So I mean, his numbers were good and he gave us everything like he always does but I just think you gotta look past the scoring. He's been so much better. He was just a little bit of it tonight and I think for good reason. I'm happy with the fact that he fought through it. He kind of got his legs back in the second half. So to me, that was the most encouraging thing. That's why I kept him out there so long.” Jahmir Young on status after missing Coppin St, playing vs. Purdue “I'm feeling much better than I did before. It’s really just like my wind a little bit. Just a little fatigued a little earlier than usual, but other than that, I'm feeling much better.” Willard on Julian Reese’s performances in recent games “That’s pretty much our biggest issue. He's kind of struggled at times. He struggled at Indiana a little bit in the first half, and he struggled, obviously, tonight. I think we've got to do a better job of trying to help him get some easy buckets at times to kind of loosen him up, but they did a really good job. They knew we're going to try to go into him. They loaded up the paint. They made it really hard for him to get deep post touches, but Julian , he's got to realize that he's number one on the scouting report and he's got to bring it a little bit more than he has the last couple games.” Willard on Maryland’s halftime adjustments “Yeah, they got up 20 pretty quick. I'd say my halftime adjustments weren't great. We came out, we got a quick bucket and we broke down on two trap downs on Edey…Jones had two threes and that was kind of, that was kind of the ballgame to be honest with you.” Willard on what can be done to fix perimeter shooting “Well, we missed seven wide-open threes in the first half. So I don't know how much more we can do when you get a wide-open shot. I'll try to put a new play in to get a wide, wide, wide-open shot. Maybe that will help.” Scott on what Maryland can do to improve three-point shooting “Just take our time. Coach always told us to step into our threes. We take probably as much shots as any by other teams in the country. We just got to step to the line, knock them down with confidence. We're getting a lot of open looks. Feel like a lot of them are strong misses. Really good looks. Just this upcoming few days before we leave to go off to Minnesota, practice hard, play hard against each other in, try to get this one back. Hopefully we can just knock down some shots on this next upcoming game.” Willard on the difference between performances vs. Purdue in 2022-23 vs. 2023-24 “We played at Michigan after the New Year last year in our first game and Hunter had a big, huge game against us and we didn't play well. We'll definitely be a different team in February. It's tough playing these games when your students aren't here, to be honest with you. They make a huge difference, but I do think these kinds of games are good for us in the fact that I think some of these guys will kind of, can see where we're at. That's kind of what the Michigan game did to us last year. It kind of gave us a real chance to kind of say alright, we won eight in a row and things are going well, but now all of a sudden you go up against a team like this who's playing really well, who's by far the best team in the country. It's not even close. If you look at their schedule, you look at who they've played, where they've played. It's the best team in the country. But for them to come in here and do this to us on our home court, that should be a little bit of an eye-opener for everybody.” Scott on whether Purdue is the best team in the country “They’re not the best. They won. You’ve got somebody that’s a team that’s been together for two years back to back without bringing to any guys and then having three starters up the bench. That makes it special, that makes it more chemistry, more easier to just go with the flow of the game and let the game just go throughout the whole, everybody on the court. Because the guys, they've been together for a little while and it’s hard to really not like have chemistry and stuff like that. So that's one thing you need to be over the good team, man. I feel like they got that. So if it’s not the best then it's one of the best teams.” Young on 26-point performance vs. Purdue “Purdue made it tough for me. Honestly I struggled early but, I mean, it's really just my teammates putting me in position to be successful. It's not really about points or any type of accolades or stats, I'm just really trying to win. So, I mean, my 26 points meant nothing to me.” Related Links Purdue leads wire-to-wire, dominates Maryland 67-53Maryland remains consistent with visiting guard targetFour-star Malachi Palmer announces his commitment to MarylandFour takeaways for 2024 from Maryland’s Music City Bowl winBeau Brade declares for 2024 NFL Draft