Gary Williams' Quotes From Friday's Pregame Teleconference
2/15/2002 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 15, 2002
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Maryland head men's basketball coach Gary Williams held a teleconference on Friday in anticipation of Sunday's meeting between the No. 3 Terrapins and No. 1 Duke Blue Devils at Cole Field House. The following quotes are exerpts from that teleconference.
On keeping Sunday's Maryland-Duke game in perspective:
"When you're in the conference [portion of the schedule], you play the games as they come up. Obviously with Duke being ranked No. 1 in the country it's a very big game, but at the same time you try to keep your preparation the same. The players know it's a big game, and if you start doing things you don't usually do, sometimes that can put some pressure on your players."
On what Maryland needs to do differently after the first Terps-Devils match-up of the season:
"We have to play for a longer period of time the way we think we should play against Duke. We did it for 20 minutes but that is not enough -- you have to do it for 40. Basically every team they've played this year, except for in the Florida State game, has had the same problem of sustaining it. NC State came out last night and for the first 10 minutes they obviously looked like the best team. But to sustain that level of play is very difficult because Duke is so good, and so our job is just to play better for a longer period of time."
On whether he'll discuss last year's meeting at Cole with his team:
"We'll bring up the fact that we were up 10 with a minute left -- the positive side of that. We led the whole game here last year and then let it go at the end. But there were some things that happened in the last minute of the game -- Blake fouling out -- that didn't help the situation. The thing that got lost in the way the game ended was the fact that we had led the whole game. It wasn't like we just spurted out to ten there with a minute left in the game."
On what the team has to focus on to have success against Duke:
"We have to play well. We're not going to beat anybody as good as Duke if we don't play well, so that's our focus -- how well we play. That's what we can control best -- our level of play -- and hopefully we can do a good job."
On the media hype heading into the game:
"This is what you play for as a college basketball player -- these kind of games. Very few college players get a chance to play against a No. 1 team and be ranked third in the country yourself, so this should be a great experience, something that all the players in the game will hopefully remember for a while."
On Cole Field House's last season:
"Cole is a very special place for me because it's where I've spent a lot of my basketball life. During the season you're here a lot of hours. As a player you spend a lot of time here. It's a place you're comfortable with. This is 18 years as a player and a coach now in Cole Field House and it's very comfortable to come into work every day and be here. That all changes come September, and it's something you have to deal with and adjust to. The great thing about Cole is when we play the last game here it will still be a great arena to watch a basketball game in. That's never changed. Every seat has had a great sight line, and in terms of game day, this is still a great place to watch basketball."
On the importance of a possible No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament:
"We were seeded third last year and I know that helped us. The highest seed we can get is what we want. Every game we play is very important. That's why you can't just concentrate on any one game. Obviously a win would help us, but if you lose the next three after a win Sunday it wouldn't exactly help your seeding. We still have a lot of games to play in the league."
On Maryland's front court depth:
"We play players longer minutes, but they have to play well to have an edge. Duke is used to playing their way. They have Ewing to bring in and then they rotate a couple of big guys to come in and play. I think they are very comfortable playing their way. Where I see depth helping is in terms of foul trouble, more than the length of the game or staying fresh for 40 minutes. Obviously the Duke players are used to that. We have to be tough enough to sustain our efforts and we use our bench to do that maybe a little more, but I don't think it's a problem really for either team to go hard for 40 minutes."
On the Maryland-Duke comparison:
"Duke is still the defending national champion. They are the team, and they beat us the first time we played this year. So to say that we're equals -- we haven't proven that yet. That's still to come if we are able to win. That's where we are right now. The thing that we have going is we know we can play in terms of what we have done this year. We also know that you have to play at a very high level for 40 minutes if you expect to have a chance to win."
