March 25, 2003

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The following comments were made by Maryland men's basketball coach Gary Williams in a press conference at the University of Maryland Tuesday, March 25:

On Michigan State:
"Michigan State is a typical Big Ten team, a lot of people think, in that they are very physical. They have big people, and not just height-wise, playing the various positions. They are kind of on a roll, and played great against Florida to defeat Florida like they did. They are well-balanced; they have inside and outside scoring, and they have a lot of people averaging 7 to 10 points per game. They are a pretty interesting team. You don't have an advantage with your bench in this type of game like we might have had vs. Xavier. They play as many people as we do. Everyone is going to have to pull their load. We have to get good bench play to be successful, but our starters have to do a good job, also."

"They have had some injuries. If you play good teams, you go up and down. There are very few teams that escape that now. I think they've won eight out of their last 12, so they are on a pretty good roll right now. They should have confidence, as we should, from winning the last couple of games."

"They seem to be pretty flexible. Their guard, Chris Hill, took 18 3's against Syracuse [earlier this season]. But most of their offense starts by looking inside. The changes they have made offensively are that they are playing quicker; they are running more and shooting more in transition. That gives them more versatility in their offense. That just might be guys being healthy. The big thing is we have to do the things we do well. We have to run our offense, play good defense...I think it might come down to rebounding in this game. They are a physical rebounding team. We did a good job in outrebounding Xavier by 10 and hopefully we can continue to be a good rebounding team."

On the Terps:
"It's great to see our guys come around. You don't just go back to the Sweet Sixteen without having good people. Our guys were willing to work hard; we worked harder in practice this year than last year because we had to replace three guys who went to the NBA and another who was on the all-rookie team in the CBA. Everybody said Tahj [Holden] will step in for Lonny, and Ryan will take Chris Wilcox's place...well, maybe....maybe they can....but there are no guarantees. When you win the national championship, they don't give you a pass to qualify for the NCAA Tournament the following year. You have to earn that, and that was our immediate goal - to make it back to the tournament."

"I thought the big thing with [last weekend] was that we got to play two games in a short period of time. You need games to get a good edge. We didn't have that [toward the end of the regular season]. We had played four games in four weeks. It was great to get into a situation where we might have been a little tired but we were game sharp after the Wilmington game because we obviously had to do everything we could just to win that game."

On Ryan Randle:
"Ryan showed some potential last year. The big thing for Ryan was he got to play against Lonny Baxter every day in practice [last season]. You can't get a better role model in terms of effort [than Lonny]. Lonny explained to Ryan how he had lost a lot of weight to get to where he was as a player. And Ryan lost a lot of weight this past summer, and was a much better basketball player when he came back in September than when he left last summer."

"Ryan has done a great job, given the fact this is only his second year playing. He's like a sophomore experience-wise. Yet he's able to play big in some big games - against Indiana in December he had 17 rebounds against a very big front line. He's done that all year. He had periods where he didn't have those numbers, but he just keeps coming back. What he's done in the first two games of the NCAA Tournament is probably as good as any inside player has done in the country."

On how the war is affecting the Terps:
"I think this situation in Iraq has certainly hit home. A lot of things don't hit home when you are 18 to 20 years old. For these guys, the [1991] Gulf War happened when they were really young. They see guys on television who are their age. They at least know somebody who knows somebody who is over there. This reminds me of when I was in school and the Vietnam War was going on, and you knew somebody over there. It definitely has hit home, and we talk about it. We usually watch a bit of it when we get together, so everyone knows what is going on. And I think our guys are very thankful, very appreciative, of their situation here as opposed to being over there. Plus the fact that they've heard enough soldiers comment about March Madness and how important March Madness is for them in their lives, that things stay the same over here, and that the soldiers can root for their teams."

Drew Nicholas, Senior Guard
On defending the national championship:
"You try not to think about defending the national championship, because you're just trying to win every basketball game. It's just that time of the year where doing so is defending the national championship. We're doing everything possible to come out prepared and win each game."

On the effect of his game-winning shot vs. UNC Wilmington:
"I'm the same player,and I'm the same person. I'm just trying to stay focused on getting the job done. It was a big shot for me, but it's not about individual performances this time of year. Whoever gets it done on any particular night in order for us to advance -- we'll take it, and move on."

Ryan Randle, Senior Center
On coming off solid performances in the tournament:
"It feels good, but I'm never satisfied. I'm excited to get playing again. For the seniors, this is our last go-round. We want to go out on top."

Calvin McCall, Senior Guard
On maintaining a high level of play:
"We played so well against Xavier, and we want to keep it going. We don't want to lose anything, so we have these practices to help us get back to where we were. I think we use that as an advantage. I don't think we're cocky -- we're confident. We're defending our title, and until we get beat, we're the champions. I think all the guys realize that."

On the team's performance in the first/second rounds:
"We just kept fighting. At times it seemed like UNC Wilmington had a lot going for them, but guys on the team wouldn't give up, and that's why we came out with the victory. Against Xavier, we beat them early and kind of took away their confidence, so that was a key point in the game."