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Pick a moment and hold onto it. Julian Reese’s conversion under a nifty little bounce pass from Don Carey that forces a Purdue timeout. Patrick Emilien’s dunk in transition as a packed Xfinity Center almost exploded. Hakim Hart’s three-pointer, which forced another Purdue timeout, only resulting in Ian Martinez’s up-and-under-and-one.
Oh, and that student body that slid off the seat wall behind the baseline as the clock ticked down. When the buzzer sounded, the court would be a dangerous place.
“I was trying to get out of there, man,” Kevin Willard said. “Everyone tried to rub my head. I was just trying to get back in the dressing room to be honest.”
Safety before celebrations. Remember: This is what men’s basketball in Maryland can be. No, scratch that. Remember, this is how men’s basketball should be in Maryland.
Willard is in his freshman year at the top of the Terrapins, and Thursday night’s 68-54 win over third-ranked Purdue gives him not only a resume-enhancing performance to show the NCAA Tournament Committee, but a win that resonates with all the students who flocked to the floor, the wrinkled alumni who high-fived all night, and the legends from years past who hugged and smiled from ear to ear.
Terrapins are good at court storming when dismantling #3 Boilermakers
“We’ve been waiting for this for so long,” said Lonny Baxter, center on the 2002 Terps national championship team, straining his voice over the noise. “There were so many bad years with ups and downs where things didn’t quite work out.
“This,” and he looked out at the sea of students on the course named after his old coach, Gary Williams. “You can see: you’ve done a great job coaching these guys and bringing the right guys here. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for this Maryland team.”
A program isn’t built in a night, and a win over a top-five team doesn’t end a season. But while Willard solidifies his foundation, it’s imperative that all of his constituents have a reason to pop their chests beneath their hardened tortoise shells and say, “Yeah, that’s what it must be like to be a terp.”
Williams was there on Thursday and snuck out of the exits before chaos ensued. So did Baxter and Tony Massenburg, Greivis Vásquez and Johnny Rhodes. They watched the Terps choke the Boilermakers in the second half, turning a 37-29 deficit into a 58-41 lead with contributions from every player who set foot on the floor. If any of these terps were wondering what Xfinity Center is like at its best, wonder no more.
“It was kind of crazy,” Reese said. “…I’ve seen people fall.”
“I got caught,” said guard Jahmir Young, who led by 20 points. “It was hot. Everyone jumped.”
“Someone was on the backboard, I think,” Reese said.
Yes, someone was on the back wall. We’ll get to it.
Willard downplayed his role in providing the moment — and appropriately so. But he brings a bit of the East Coast swagger that Williams defined back to College Park. Purdue, Willard said, “is a team that can win a national championship,” and Boilermakers center Zach Edey “is probably the best player in college basketball.”
But when Willard and assistant Grant Billmeier finished watching the tape Thursday morning, the coach turned to his assistant and said, “There’s no doubt we’re going to win this game.”
“It’s no surprise to me,” Willard said.
This attitude runs through the program – after only 26 games.
“We couldn’t ask for a coach who believes in us more than he does,” Young said.
Of course, this is not a finished product, and the potential here is not fully realized. The win moved the Terps to 9-6 in the Big Ten, in third place with Indiana and Iowa, behind Purdue and Northwestern.
There is work to be done. But try to lure Willard into an it doesn’t happen overnight review of his program. He can’t and doesn’t want to because he doesn’t believe in it.
“We’ll keep going,” he said quickly and confidently. “Was there. We have the No. 13 recruiting class in the country. …
“This group has laid the groundwork now,” he said, gesturing toward the dressing room where his team was celebrating. “Every recruit that came and watched us work, every recruit that came and watched us train, every high school coach that watched us train—they all love it. They all love what we do.”
Now the fans do too. College basketball is meant to be experienced, felt, arousing emotions that make you want to frame the moment. Kevin Willard’s first Maryland team did that.
“Kevin will do a great job,” said Purdue coach Matt Painter. “He’s doing a great job.”
On the resulting noise pollution: As Willard somehow found his way through the crowd and into the safety of the locker room, a Maryland student successfully heaved himself onto a ledge. He stood up and pointed to the sky — at the #1 fingers that were making his classmates delirious downstairs. With that, another grabbed the net and began to pull himself up.
“Again, fans,” the announcer pleaded, “please don’t touch the baskets or the back panels. We need them for the rest of the season.”
What next? Telling the kids to stop burning things in College Park after wins like this?
This is one step. A joyful, necessary step.
“You always hear people get angry during court storms,” Painter said. He counted the Boilermakers’ road losses in the last two years: eight. “We’ve had eight court storms in two years.”
That’s the next step. Willard will know the Terps are fully formed – that they are the highest version of what they can and should be – when he tours the Big Ten, suffers a loss and the student body in Purdue or Wisconsin or wherever storms her yard.
It felt great to be in College Park on Thursday night. What the Terrapins—this year’s version, next year’s, and beyond—need to do is reproduce that over and over again. This is how men’s basketball can be in Maryland. This is how men’s basketball should be in Maryland.