Feb. 17, 2003

Recap| Box Score| Notes| Photo Gallery

Maryland Head Coach Gary Williams
Opening statement:
"I'm awfully proud of my team. We kept our focus and really carried out our gameplan well. Especially the rebounding. We've really been working hard the past couple days just screening out and trying to get in their way. This is such a great rebounding team. Tonight we certainly held our own. I thought it took us a couple minutes to really get ready to rebound well, but once we got started we were fine. I thought Calvin McCall had a lot to do with it in the beginning of the game. He seemed to bring some energy with him that we needed at that particular time, because Wake got off to a pretty good start. Once we got control of the game, I thought we did a very good job because they are very talented. When you have Howard and people like that on the perimeter, you can do some damage, and their inside game is obviously very good. They have a pretty good combination, and we were able to do what we tried to do defensively. And even though we fouled some in the first half, I thought we were really working hard trying not to foul.

"Wake's shot a tremendous amount of free throws compared to their opponents in the league this year. We wanted to keep from putting them on the line.

On preparing for the re-scheduled game today:
"Myself, I was trying to prepare to play today. You never know what's going to happen. In my mind we were playing. I wouldn't let myself think that we weren't playing. I was worried about the players, because they are 18-22 years old. I had the experience of playing in the Big Ten, so I know how that works [with inclement weather affecting games]. I told the players that anything can happen. There is always that tendency to think that you're not going to play when the game gets canceled, the Wizards get canceled, and the Georgetown game gets canceled....and we hadn't heard what we were going to do. I'm sure that was tough on the players."

On the crowd:
"It was great, I hope they all get home....I thought it was great for the students [to have the game]. I'm sure they are bored by now. The students are off again tomorrow, so this is a little thing to let loose. They were great, I thought the place was loud considering the size of the crowd. For any crowd it was loud.It was great to see that many students there. I'm not sure that many students get to go to all the games."

Wake Forest Coach Skip Prosser
Opening statement:
"I give all the credit to Maryland. They just beat us in every which way possible. I thought we had a good rhythm and were off to a good tempo in the game. But then midway through the first half, we lost possessions, had five or six consecutive turnovers, and allowed them to get out in transition and it gave them a good working margin. We fouled a little bit too often in that stretch. We mised 13, 14 straight shots -- that's a formula for disaster on the road. We're missing jump shots and they're making freee throws. "

"I thought Nicholas and Blake hit some big, big 3's. Seniors generally do that. Again, I give the credit to the Maryland kids. "

"When we don't rebound, we don't have much of a chance."

On effects of the snow:
"Nothing, absolutely nothing. They had the same -- well, it was a little bit different because they were at home, but...as far as the rebounding total, I didn't see any snow on the court."

On the affect to the team's routine before heading to Tech:
"It's less than ideal, but that's the deal. We play a sport that is played in February. I told the players, a lot of what happens in life we have absolutely nothing to do with."