Nov. 30, 2002

Recap| Final Stats| Notes| Photo Gallery

Maryland Head Coach Gary Williams
Opening statement:
"I was very pleased with the way we came out . I think we respected Duquesne and the players made up their minds that they were really going to come out and execute. Our pressure and drop back defense were both good. We ran good offense for the first 10 minutes of the half and I was pleased with the way we executed. Steve Blake was sensational. It's also good to see the young guys starting to blend in with the older players and I think we can combine the two groups now without too many problems, which is what we are working toward. Tuesday night against Indiana, we are going to have to have everything working, that's for sure. We certainly were into the game, with the seniors making sure the younger guys knew they had to get ready."

On the area of the team with the best improvement:
"Our defense. That is a pretty good shooting team we held to 29 percent. We forced them away from where they are comfortable shooting. I thought we did a good job making them extend their offense quite a few times. Our half-court defense also caused them a lot of problems. With so many new players, we have to understand the meaning of defense. Just because it was here last year doesn't mean it will be here this year, so we need to go back to work with it."

On the anticipation of playing Indiana on Tuesday:
"Conseco Fieldhouse is a good place to play. Indiana has the motivation edge after last year. They are going to come after us, but we need someone to do that to see how we react to that. We will learn more about our team that day. It's gonna be a test for our whole team to see if we can distribute the ball to the guy that is open."

On the freshman becoming more comfortable in the offense:
"I tell everyone if they are open to shoot it. You work hard to get guys open and your responsibility is to take the shot."

Duquesne Head Coach Danny Nee
"Maryland hits the throttle and goes 100 miles an hour-- that's their style of play. We hit the throttle and we go 75, 80 but our car goes completely out of control."

On the number of turnovers:
"We made some bad decisions, but I would think that Maryland's defense caused it. We're bad, we're not good, but certainly their pressure, their quickness, their hustle were a very, very important part of that."

"The atmosphere coming in here is a new experience for our team and they have to learn to handle playing ACC basketball."

"With this being our second game in 48 hours, we had to take out our starters and play those other kids because this was our fifth game in 10 days. I couldn't play our starters as long as I wanted."

"When you play a team like Maryland, there's a certain amount of preparation that you have to have. You have to be able to handle their press. We could practice until Doomesday and wouldn't be able to simulate their speed and quickness."