What Maryland head coach Kevin Willard said after Northwestern loss

Maryland and Northwestern battled in Evanston on Wednesday night as neither team led by more than six points in a game featuring 11 lead changes, but it would be the Wildcats who pulled out a last-second win as Maryland fell short, 72-69, as head coach Kevin Willard watched his team finish .500 on a critical road trip. Jahmir Young dazzled once again with a game-high 36 points, the most by a Terp in a conference game since Diamond Stone dropped 39 on Penn State back on Dec. 30, 2015. Jordan Geronimo, Julian Reese and Donta Scott all finished in double figures as Maryland shot over 52% from the field in the loss, yet the lack of bench production loomed large once again as the rest of the team finished with zero points. Everything that Willard said after the loss: On Jahmir Young, Boo Buie dominating in Maryland vs. Northwestern “ Buie and Jahmir , I mean, they just went head to head. I mean, uh, Jahmir was phenomenal. I mean, just absolutely phenomenal. We had our chances in the second half. We missed, how many free throws we missed in the second half? I think we missed three free throws in the second. We missed six free throws in the second half. So you missed six free throws in the second half and then, you know…simple. It’s the tough thing about being on the road is like some of the things that game slippage, like just pick-and-roll defense, something that you get to drill every day at home. You spend three days sitting in the hotel room, like somewhere still, it's still more execution down the stretch was just not good. And there's was good. 1-1 on the road. I thought we had a good shot at it. We executed offensively down the stretch pretty good, but so did they.” On whether Maryland turned the corner during the road trip “I don't think it's ever been effort, Chris. I think you gotta, it's young kids, we were playing freshmen. Our first road game at Villanova, we started two freshmen. It's a big deal to go on their first road game and then our first, the Indiana road game, I thought our effort was great. We just, that's Jordan's return home. He kind of was in a mental funk, so I think these guys had given great effort all year. I think what we're seeing now is that the young guys are starting to understand how to play. They're starting to get better. Jahmir’s obviously, obviously Jameer's over his flu. When he has consistent days of practice, he's just, that's who he is. We didn't guard the ball down the stretch and that really hurt us.” On Jahmir Young’s impact for Maryland “Chris and I are very similar. It's like, I don't run nearly as many plays as Chris does, but I’ve got Jahmir. We struggle a little bit, because Jahari hasn't practiced, we've been playing Jahmir off the two-guard spot with Deshawn playing the point guard spot. Deshawn gets in foul trouble and all of a sudden, some of our playbook got taken out and we had to go a little bit more one-on-one isolations. Again, you know, it's, the way we're playing on the road with consistent effort against a team that obviously beat Purdue here. Very tough place to play. place got loud. We gave ourselves a chance and that's what you got to do.” Related Links Young's 36 points not enough for Maryland in 72-69 loss vs. Northwestern’25 Good Counsel DL Delano Brown eyeing return visit to Maryland (+) The Shell Report: ’25 DeMatha WR Emmanuel DysonTaulia Tagovailoa entering 2024 NFL Draft with waiver expected to be deniedMaryland checks on local four-star, eyeing visit to campus (+)