Nov. 29, 2003

Recap| Box Score| Notes

Maryland Head Coach Gary Williams

Opening Statement
"One of the things we tried to do the last couple days in practice was figure out how to get to the free throw line, so I was please in particular to get to the line. It was a pretty aggressive game on both sides and we were able to get to the line. Obviously, we need to shoot better than that but [the free throws] were a positive thing-to be able to get to the free throw line that number of times. Defensively, we weren't that good tonight. The ball got entered into the post too many times ... I thought we did a poor job of getting out of our pressure back to our half-court defense ... The fact that we got out-rebounded is really bad, although this team out-rebounded Georgia Tech.

"They ran their offense better than we did. It was a tough game for us. I don't think we were ever in danger in the second half, but we didn't play as well as we like to. We just talked a lot about pride and performance. We take whatever way to win the game, but after that I think we worked really hard on developing a certain way to play."

On difference in total rebounds:
One of the big stats is still rebounding. We got out-rebounded by eight no matter what you say that's still there. The fact that we didn't shoot a very good percentage from the line or from the field. "

Hofstra Head Coach Tom Pecora

On Hofstra's fouls:
"I never blame it on the officials. Obviously they felt we went after them a little too hard. I was very happy with our effort. I thought we picked up a few silly fouls at different points in the game, but I want us to go out and be aggressive. If you're not, you're not going to beat Maryland at Maryland. You better come out and bring it right away....We play that way all the time. We expect to come out and really go after people and be physical, and then you make changes as the game goes on depending on the whistle. The whistle changes every night."

On Hofstra's second-half rally:
"I just think it's energy. I just think these guys are very competitive. As coaches, you always dangle the carrot and you tell them, 'Let's be down 10 at 10 [minutes left],' and then it becomes a four-possession game. You use everything you can to motivate and try to get them there. They did a good job of weathering the storm. I think we expended a lot of energy doing it. We almost had to wait a bit to go after them because of foul trouble. At about the 12-minute mark we had to go start trapping them again, but having six guys foul out made it difficult down the stretch."

On playing strong opponents:
"We play Big East teams, ACC teams, and we do it to make ourselves better. These are young, competitive guys. They look forward to it. When we recruit them, we tell them we're going to play games like this. This prepares us for St. John's on Tuesday night and the rest of our non-conference schedule, which is very competitive, and then the CAA [Colonial Athletic Association], which is a very tough place to play, very tough places to play on the road. Coming down here and playing this atmosphere helps us a great deal."

Maryland Sophomore Forward Nik Caner-Medley

On the state of the team:
"The number one thing we need to improve on right now is putting together 40 minutes. We're 3-0, and that's a good thing. We play Wisconsin next, who is obviously a better team. So in order to beat a better team, we need to play better."

Maryland Senior Center Jamar Smith

On his play:
"I don't feel like I played that well today but to pull down another double-double, that's always going to be a good thing. Three games in a row coming out with a double-double is good. I'm just going to try to keep going like I do and help our team win."

Maryland Sophomore Guard Chris McCray

On how the team is coming together:
"Sometimes we lose our man on defense so we need to talk a little more. Coach says we have to stop using that [we are young as an excuse] and told us that we need to talk a little better out on the floor. We definitely have to play better but the most important thing is that we got the win. We have a lot of things to work on."

Hofstra Sophomore Guard Gibran Washington

On the outcome of the game:
"We competed, we played hard, but we thought we could have done a better job executing our game plan a little bit. We just got some tough breaks and that's the way it is."