Dec. 3, 2001

Recap| Box Score| Notes

Maryland Head Coach Gary Williams
Opening statement:
"When you get to see a team up close, it kind of changes the way you feel about them from what you see on tape. I was really impressed with their big people because they were fundamentally sound and because of their quickness, to go along with good size... I liked the way we competed."

On the play of Lonny Baxter:
"Tonight I thought Lonny was really in control the whole time. He really did a good job of facing the basket a couple times. With a couple fakes he got wide open where he could really go hard to the rim. He was just a warrior out there for us the whole night. In my mind he really deserved to be the MVP of this tournament."

On UConn and Head Coach Jim Calhoun:
"{Calhoun's] teams are always great defensive teams that rebound well. Tonight we tried to take away their transition game when they caught up in the first half and we tried to take away their second shots. We felt that if we could make them run a half-court offense we had a pretty good shot to win the game."

On Maryland's 16-4 quick start in the second half:
"We really talked at halftime about if we really wanted to win this game. We proved we could get a spread going in the first ten minutes [of the first half] but we didn't do it for the full 20 minutes. So we came out in the second half and it was just posession by posession... I thought we were very patient in the second half, and when we're good offensively, it's because we're pretty patient."

Connecticut Head Coach Jim Calhoun
"Maryland gave our kids a good lesson on how to play team basketball. They shoot the ball exceptionally well, they play very good defense. Gary switched late in the game as we were still fighting to go to zone, and it helped them a little bit. They did a nice job of feeding people, finding people, jumped on us early, and did a nice job of winning the game. They're obviously one of the best teams in the country."

"They're a tough team to beat because of their size, and because they share the ball so well. I was really impressed with how they played so well with each other. We got beat by a team that outplayed us."

"We're missing something offensively as far as finding people with the ball and doing things. And it's killing us... We're having a hard time finding ways to get open, run screens, and do the things we do. For whatever reason, were not getting good offense right now."

"Physically, we should feel like we won. They're not any more or less tired than if they had won the game. Because we played hard enough... I haven't looked at the stat sheet, but I'm sure we beat them on the glass. I'm sure we outworked them a lot of the game, and didn't fully synch offensively. We were fully synched defensively, but we didn't stay with it for long periods of time. Being really tough and playing at a tough level, we've done this for four straight games, so I don't know why tonight you saw something different. We've done some real dumb things mentally, or not staying in something consistently....Did we play physically harder tonight than in the first 3 games? Yes. Did we play mentally harder? I don't think so."