Jan. 11, 2003

Recap| Box Score| Notes| Photo Gallery

Maryland Head Coach Gary Williams
Opening statement:
"I thought our seniors did a really good job today. Obviously Steve [Blake] and Drew [Nicholas] are a very good tandem in the backcourt, but Calvin McCall and Tahj Holden coming off the bench, especially with foul trouble in the first half, we needed those guys to play. The great thing about having a guy like Calvin MCall against a team like Florida State, we can try to go small and play Calvin at the 'four' and kind of match up with them a little bit. We really didn't lose any momentum because we got in foul trouble right before halftime, and we were able to get through that and come out in the second half ready to play. That's the third game where we've gotten off to a good start. I like our mental preparation; I think we're doing a pretty good job of getting ready. It changes a little bit Wednesday going on the road [to Wake]. We will have to do the same things away from home. We'll find out if we're ready to do that. Overall, that is a very good win for us in terms of going against a team that plays good defense and works hard and comes to play. You can put this one aside and use whatever good has come out of this game and get ready for Wake Forest. Our total focus is Wake Forest and no other team."

"[Florida State] had some looks but they didn't make shots. We made our shots. That's the nightmare you go through as a coach sometimes. You run a pretty good play, you get open, but you miss the shot. There's nothing you can do about that. And I think Florida State had a couple looks that didn't go down, and we were hot. So we got up by 18."

On this win being a confidence builder:
"We've got wins over Georgia Tech and Florida State here, which are really solid wins, but if you're going to do anything in the league, you're going to have to win at home. We feel we're a good basketball team, we don't think we're great yet. You have to have a little confidence in what you do. I think going into the game today if we did what we were supposed to do we would have a very good chance to win the game."

"I thought we did a good job of staying out of foul trouble for a long time, then we made two stupid fouls right at the end of the half. But Tahj Holden stepped up and Nik Caner-Medley played some at the four, and Calvin played some at the four, all in the first half. They did a good job. Travis Garrison is learning on the job. He's learning how to play defense."

On Holden's leadership:
"He's a senior and been on the floor in key situations. The younger players respect Tahj. Personality-wise, he is a pretty quiet guy...an intelligent guy. He needs to step it up betweeen the lines, and he's done a great job for us. It's starting to show out there on the court. We need that with the young guys. It's not just playing this year for the seniors. One luxury the seniors had last year was that they could really just play. They showed up every day and played hard, but they really didn't have to work with any freshmen to try to get them ready. It's a little different role for the seniors this year."

"Our goal this year is to see how good we can get. We're two games in to the ACC so there's plenty of time to get better. That's how we have to look at it. Hopefully we understand that when we pass the basketball we are a very good basketball team offensively. And if we're willing to work, we know how to play defense well enough, if we're willing to work hard, we can stop teams."

Florida State Head Coach Leonard Hamilton
Opening comment:
"Obviously we got off to a very poor start. You have to give Maryland a lot of credit; they're focused, they've been there, they've done that, they understand, and they took advantage which didn't help us at the beginning of the game. We dug a hole for ourselves and obviously it was so deep we could never get out of it. We had shown signs of being inconsistent with execution in our play all year long. And you just can't afford to do that against a team that understands, that is kind of a well-oiled machine, that's experienced and with a clear understanding of their system. We are going to have to find ways to be a little more effective than we were today. But that's kind of been our pattern when you look back on our season. We've played very good basketball at times, and then we've had times where we have not been as efficient. When you have one of those times, even when your effort is solid and your not very efficient against a great basketball team, you get your hat handed to you. And this is one of those games where you keep the tape on file and you play it every once in a while to keep things in perspective."

"We've been here before, we won't be here too long. We'll right this ship, and we'll get it where it needs to be. Right now, in this day and time, we've just got to keep working and make sure we maximize the talent of this team and become the best team we can this year. We need to continue to grow and continue to keep getting better."

"On the other hand, you have to give Maryland an awful lot of credit. As I watched their tape, I could see them executing everything with such precision that you know if you did do something to disrupt their execution, that they would be very capable of hurting you in a lot of different spots. Unfortunately when we turned the ball over the first couple of times ... they are talented enough where they don't need anybody giving them anything. We kind of assisted them a little bit, and they took advantage. Then they played like their usual great selves."