Willard, Terps Talk Michigan Loss
Maryland Coach Kevin Willard and players Derik Queen and Selton Miguel spoke after the Terps’ 81-80 loss against Michigan March 15:
KEVIN WILLARD: Obviously disappointed in the way the game ended, but proud of the battle we fought back. We came out in the second half and didn't have very good energy. I thought these guys really picked it up and battled.
Give Michigan credit, they made some good plays down the stretch. We just couldn't get a stop down the stretch. It's a good basketball team. Proud of my guys' effort.
Q. DQ, can you kind of take us through those final seconds there after you make the free throws, and how they were able to kind of get downhill and get that layup at the end.
DERIK QUEEN: Made two free throws, inbound the ball, we press, got past our guards, got past the second line. Then went in and made a layup.
Q. For either of you guys, obviously a disappointing loss, but you have to feel pretty good with how close you were despite being outrebounded that much and down at big points in the game. What was the key to keeping your heads up and making that such a close game down the stretch?
SELTON MIGUEL: We're not satisfied. Of course it happened. We had four losses, all buzzer beaters. The main focus is just stay together all the time and keep playing.
I know it came down to the last play, but we did everything we could to win the game.
DERIK QUEEN: Yeah, what Selton said, we didn't finish the half out great, but we didn't come into the half great. Then we let until the second media timeout to pick it up, and it wasn't too late, but we couldn't rack up stops.
Q. Selton, you mentioned the four losses on pretty much buzzer beaters. Have there been -- has there been anything you've noticed in terms of maybe a trend with those, a similar thing that happened, and anything you can learn from that to prevent the same thing from happening going forward?
SELTON MIGUEL: We've got to prevent from the get go, from the start, not to depend on the last shot of the game. We learned, we keep learning, it's sports, things happen. But you learn after every game.
Q. For both of you guys, how can you use this as motivation going into the NCAA Tournament?
DERIK QUEEN: Just make smarter decisions on the defensive end, no fouls, but just contain and stay in front of them. Hopefully we're never in that position again to even do that.
SELTON MIGUEL: Like I said, keep learning. We definitely got to do a better job rebounding. That's the main thing, especially for the guards on our team.
At the same time, we take every loss as a lesson. So just see what we can do in March Madness.
Q. Derik, your looks and your makes from 3s, we haven't seen you hit like that since December basically. Was that just part of what you wanted to do today, not just be an inside presence, but also get your perimeter shooting going to?
DERIK QUEEN: I mean, I work on it every day. I just don't shoot a lot in a game, shoot one or two a game. Haven't been making them. They left me open a lot of times, I just made them.
Q. Selton mentioned the loss at the buzzer obviously. What do you tell the guys to make sure that doesn't happen in the NCAA Tournament next week?
KEVIN WILLARD: It's a learning lesson. That's the way I talk to them. That's the way we're going to look at it.
We did a lot of things right to get to that spot. We just did one thing wrong. It's disappointing, but every time we've had one of these losses -- and we've had four of them now -- these guys have learned what we've done wrong, and we've actually bounced back and come back.
I'm going to use the same thing. I've got to make an adjustment late in the game, and give Tre a lot of credit, he made a tough left-handed layup.
Q. Coach, you guys have size, but can you talk about the challenge of going against those two 7-footers, especially with the skill set they have? They're not exactly traditional back-to-the-basket centers.
KEVIN WILLARD: I think really where that size gets you -- Donaldson's a big guard. Burnett is a bigger guard. When Roddy Gayle is playing the way he played today, I think that gives them a different dimension. Obviously their size is different, but we've got to -- our guards have to do a much better job of helping rebound.
It's one thing that's been a little bit of a weakness of ours. We have two of our starters that have one rebound each. Sometimes when you play against bigger teams, you need your guards to go in there and dig them out, and I think that's the biggest challenge with them.
Q. All season long you've talked about how you guys have had to travel all over the place, haven't had a lot of time or the proper time to practice and rest at the same time. Although this loss hurts, you get a few more days to prep and rest ahead of what really matters. What's your message to the team going forward into this next week before the games begin?
KEVIN WILLARD: I don't think I've complained about travel at all actually. I think I've actually said it's been good for the league to have the West Coast teams in it. So I haven't complained about travel at all.
Q. To be down 15 and come back, that might have been the biggest deficit you've had all year. What does that say about you that you guys were able to respond to that and make it a game again?
KEVIN WILLARD: I just said at the timeout I was a little disappointed the way we came out of the halftime. I thought they came out very aggressive, and I thought we didn't come out with the same aggressiveness that they did.
I knew we'd get back in it because these guys have battled all year and they've been really good all year. It's just when you're giving up offensive rebound after offensive rebound, when you're getting some good defensive stops, it gets a little disheartening. It's something we haven't had happen to us, and it was really the difference in the game.
Q. After playing these games this week, arguably your best game of the season yesterday, toughest game of the season today, this league and this gauntlet, how does that set you up for what's coming in the next weeks?
KEVIN WILLARD: We're going to enjoy Selection Sunday tomorrow. The greatest thing about this league is there's so many different styles. Dusty switches a lot, 1 through 4.
Then you have traditional with Coach Izzo, who's very traditional with hedging and being very physical. You have teams that play fast like Iowa. You have teams that play really slow like Minnesota and physical.
Whoever we play on Thursday or Friday, we're going to have seen that style, and I think it's what's really unique about this conference is it makes you adjust as a coach and makes you get better as a coach because you see so many different styles. It's just not the same basketball night in and night out.
Q. Kevin, obviously you want to be playing tomorrow, but is it valuable to have an extra day of rest, especially if you're playing on Thursday instead of Friday?
KEVIN WILLARD: I'll be honest, if I see another buzzer beater, I'd rather be playing tomorrow. It's hard to win conference championships. It's hard to win conference tournament championships. When you have a chance, you've got to take advantage of every opportunity you get.