Kevin Willard quote book: Rutgers

On Rutgers’ defense:

“I think the adjustment Steve has made with the pressure defense has just — I think it’s made up for a lot of their offensive woes, to be perfectly honest with you — they’re a very good basketball team, I think they’re not a great half-court offensive team, and I went back and watched the Seton Hall game and it was one of the better college games I’ve seen. But seeing the struggle scoring in the half court, the press — especially in this building — it just gives them an opportunity, it puts a little bit less pressure on their half-court defense, and it gives them an opportunity to get easy transition points, and I think that’s the biggest difference I’ve seen in them from watching them play at Miami, I watched them in, obviously, the Big Ten games, so Paul, Cliff, McConnell and Mag, they all work really well as a group and I think Cam Spencer’s a really smart player out there that kind of knows his game. I just think the pressing has changed them from a half-court team that you really knew what was coming at you the whole time that you knew you were going to have to score to a team that now is a special preparation team that, in this building, is tough.”

On Julian Reese’s flagrant foul:

“The turnover was big, to be honest with you. The flagrant wasn’t huge. I mean, I love the fact that he chased it down and went up and played aggressive. I thought that’s the best Julian’s looked in a long time, it looks like he’s back from those 12 days that he missed. His legs look like they’re there, I thought his pick-and-roll defense was excellent, I thought he battled all night with Cliff. That was the kind of Julian that was playing really well and then obviously, that injury at UCLA kind of derailed him a little bit, but it looks like he just had that look in his eye that he had before he got hurt.”

On Maryland’s offensive issues:

“I don’t know. We were getting some good looks in the first half, I don’t know. I think Ian (Martinez) making the three kind of relaxed us. I now know why Duke and Maryland are such hated rivals, I mean, Duke got down 22-4 (at NC State), so they upstaged us by a point. We got down 21-4 (at Michigan), right? Duke always messing with Maryland, I guess. I don’t know. They’re working hard, they’re getting good looks, they’re good offensive players. This is the first time these guys have gone through this, so being on the road, being on the road, being on the road, battling tough crowds — I think that’s what’s great about this league is every night, there’s been a great crowd. Sometimes the schedule dictates how you play. I know Jerry (Carino) hates that quote, but sometimes the schedule dictates how you play, and right now, we’ve had three tough games on the road, we’ve played well at home, but we just haven’t been home that much, so I have the utmost confidence in these guys. We’ll get it going offensively again, I’m not so worried.”

On focusing on defense in practice:

“I think I did mostly offense, so that probably was not pretty good. Maybe I should hire somebody. Jerry once tweeted I should hire an offensive coordinator, I thought I did this year. I think I might fire him now.”

Jerry Carino: “That must have been a long time ago.”

Willard: “It was a long time ago. I remember all your tweets, Jerry.”

On starting Noah Batchelor over Don Carey:

“Don played really well the last few times he came off the bench, and kind of got lost in the game a little bit, and he was able to come in and be a little freer, to be honest with you, instead of being such a focus on having one of the best defenders on him. I wanted to try to maybe get one of their subs and just kind of get him going a little bit, and just kind of give a little pressure off him. It was nothing big, he knew he was going to play the same amount of minutes, just maybe trying to get him lost so he can kind of have a little bit more relaxed of a defender on him instead of some of the guys that he has been going against, who have been lockdown guys. I think Noah did great. He didn’t have a great stat line, but for being a freshman in this environment, it’s a great experience for him. It’ll pay dividends down the future.”

On Paul Mulcahy:

“We beat them — I think we played them last year at home, Seton Hall, sorry, I have to keep going back and forth — and I remember he was such a non-factor because Geo had the ball in his hands all the time. And I remember watching the last eight games of Big Ten play with them, and I thought the difference in this team and their team last year — and obviously this year — is they gave the ball to Paul. Paul was a point guard in high school, he played for a great coach who taught him just how to play the game, and he affects the game, he’s one of the better passers I’ve seen in college basketball in a long time. He’s unselfish, he has great confidence, but I thought the move to him playing point guard last year was the difference in the way they finished the season last year and obviously the way they’ve started this year.”

On Maryland’s response to offensive droughts:

“I thought these guys responded great. I’m proud of them. We played absolutely horrible at Michigan, as bad as you can play. I challenged them, they came into practice, Jahmir (Young) and Don (Carey), these two guys were such great leaders the last two days. I think they’ve responded tremendously. Hopefully a home game. I see them drain shots all the time, you can ask them that. I think they’ve had more stress on it than me, because I wouldn’t let them fly if I didn’t believe in them. I think we’re all looking forward to getting home and having a home game, to be honest with you. Who knows? If we’re down 21-4 at home, then you can ask me a different question, but I don’t think we will be.”

On Maryland's turnovers:

“What did I see from them? They hurt us. I think you’ve gotta give credit to Rutgers, I think their pressure defense was really good, and again, I think the more we go through these games, the more confidence they’re going to get in each other, the more confidence they’re going to have playing against these types of defenses. But I think you have to give Rutgers credit for that because I thought their defense was excellent.”

On his pregame dining:

“I actually love eating with these guys. They don’t like when I eat with them because everybody gets a little quieter and a little tense, and they don’t joke as much, but I enjoy it because I enjoy being around them, but I did — I snuck out last night and I grabbed real Italian food, Jer, and the poor lady looked at me like I was nuts. I kept ordering stuff and ordering stuff and ordering stuff, and I got to-go stuff because my wife said I’d better bring her home some or I was going to get divorced. So yes, I did sneak out and cheat last night, Jerry, I did.”