March 20, 2003

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Following are press conference comments from Maryland basketball coach Gary Williams on Thursday, March 20. The Terps open NCAA Tournament play Friday at 9:55 p.m. ET vs. UNC-Wilmington.

Opening comments:
"We're glad to be back in the NCAA Tournament. This is our 10th straight year in the tournament. It's certainly important to us. This year is a little different with the events going on around the world. Hopefully, we can provide something for the people who have put their lives at risk. Hopefully we will play well; we're looking forward to playing. We certainly are playing against a good team in North Carolina-Wilmington. They are an experienced team that has won in the NCAA Tournament, and it should be a great game."

How it is different being a No. 6 seed this year:
"Last year the pressure was to win. We had been to the Final Four the year before, so the expectations were really high, and we had to deal with that. This year we had to earn our way into the tournament. We lost four starters from last year's team, and we had to work hard because we knew people would come after us because of last year. Our seniors have done a very good job this season making sure we were working hard enough to get back to the tournament. You don't get to defend a national championship unless you get back to the tournament."

On UNC Wilmington's Brett Blizzard:
"What impresses me most about him is he's a great passer. If you help too much on him, he'll find the open man. If he thinks a guy has a better shot than he does, he'll give it up. You don't find many guys who score as much as he does who are willing to do that. But at the same time, because he does that, he makes it a very good offensive team. Those guys are willing to give him a look every time down, and let him decide. They trust his judgment, that he's going to give them the ball when they are open. I think that is a really great offensive player when they gain the respect of their teammates."

On Steve Blake's impact over the last four years:
"Steve is interesting because he was thrown into the starting lineup his first game as a freshman. And he did a great job his freshman year, and each year he's improved. You don't win a lot of games without a great point guard. If you look at Steve's numbers, he's had one of the greatest careers of any point guard who has played college basketball. He does a lot of things that don't show up on the stat sheet....in terms of putting the ball in the right player's hands that is really not an assist, or playing good defense against the other team's guards. All those things are critical if you want to have winning teams. Steve has been willing to sacrifice a little scoring to help us win."

On UNC-Wilmington:
"To their credit, they know how to play basketball. That's what everybody says about Wilmington - their spacing on offense, their ability to work hard on defense, all those things. A player like Callahan, you don't find many inside players that know how the offense is run as well as he does. The fact Blizzard and Callahan are both seniors and have played together for so long, it's almost automatic with those two guys. They know where the other is, and if one is open, he gets the ball. It's a great way to play basketball, and that's why they are so tough."