Maryland head coach Kevin Willard entered Thursday night's game against No. 3 Purdue confident in the way his team prepared as the Terps looked to get their first win over a team ranked in the Top 5 in seven years.
“I thought we had three really good days of practice… and going into it I had a lot of confidence in the fact that we had played them really well [in January] – they have an unbelievable home court advantage, too – and I just thought, we had three good days of practice I thought our guys were locked in with what we wanted to do,” Willard told Team 980’s Kevin Sheehan Friday after Maryland’s 68-54 win.
“They were so pumped up, not only to play such a good team in Purdue, but we know there was gonna be a great crowd,” he added, “I just thought once we kinda settled down on the offensive end we’d be ok.”
While the home-field advantage in College Park was a big boost for the Terps (18-8, 9-6 Big Ten) in the end, it may have contributed to the offense's slow start.
"The atmosphere was off the charts. We had almost 8,000 students at the game last night," Willard told Sheehan. "I think they were all pressing a little bit, they all wanted to kinda make that big play to get the crowd going. And I think once they got really tired they couldn't think about anything else besides just trying to play basketball, and I think us being tired kinda helped us a little bit."
But overall, Willard will take a raucous crowd every time.
“I think we have the best fanbase [in the Big Ten and] the building last night was electric,” he said. “You get 8,000 students in the game who are into it, you can get 17,900 on a nightly basis, I think this is why this program… and coach [Gary] Williams talked to me about it this summer, it’s why I think this program is one of the best programs in the country because it has such a passionate fanbase.”
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Maryland forward Julian Reese, who scored 10 points and had nine rebounds, called the win a "confidence booster" for Maryland and his head coach praised his performance and development.
"He is an extremely smart basketball player," Willard told Team 980. "He understands scouting reports, he understands what's going on in the game, he has a really good feel for the game of basketball. ... He's a big physical kid, but what I love about him more than anything is as the season has gotten on, I've gained so much confidence in what we can do offensively because he really thinks the game.
"[Reese] came over to me at one point early in the second half and said, 'You know I think we can run this play, and I think it will be open,' and most 6'10 guys don't come over to you and think that they can run a play... with the size and physicality of this league, I think he's turned himself into one of the – if not the – best big guy in the league," Willard said.
“I knew we were going to win,” Willard told the media after the game on Thursday night. “This was not a surprise to me. This is an unbelievable program. It’s one of the best programs in the country. I thought it was important for the fanbase and it was important for the students to just understand what this program is really all about.”
Willard and Maryland look to keep the momentum going Sunday evening at 5 p.m. in Nebraska (13-14, 6-10 in Big Ten) and that game can be heard on The Team 980 right here:
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