Nov. 5, 2004

Recap |  Box Score |  Notes

Maryland Head Coach Gary Williams
Opening Comments:
"We shot 30-for-57, that's good; 5-for-10 from the three-point line, that's real good; 35-for-48 from the line, that's good we got to the line; out-rebounded them by 10. Our defense stunk. That's basically what happened out there. You let a team make some shots early, they gain confidence if they had a lack of confidence. Bryant, to their credit, just came out and stuck a couple, thought they could play with us, and because we weren't playing defense, they played with us. They deserve a lot of credit for being able to come in here and do that. We have to use this game for what it's for. When you play an exhibition game, you try to find out what you need to work on. Certainly tonight we found out that our defense just isn't where it has to be yet. We have two weeks until [the first game] to get ready, and certainly we have to find the right combination to be a good defensive team. I don't think we have it yet. I thought D.J. Strawberry played very well tonight defensively. For the games we have coming up during the season, we have to be a good defensive team. That has to be a given. There can't be nights where you just depend on your offense. We'll either get better defensively or we won't be a very good basketball team."

On playing an exhibition game:
"Tonight's good. You find out what you need to find out. I was concerned if there was a blowout, we wouldn't find some things out. But the way Bryant hung with us certainly gave us a chance to see some things, and one is that we're not playing good enough defense."

On the starting lineup:
"We have to find a way to play defense right from the start. If that team can't do it, then we have to get different people in there to start the game."

On Maryland's size advantage:
"They weren't exactly the biggest front line we'll play against. We should have dominated. We won the game because we could dominate inside, but we should because we have more big guys than they do."

On coming off last year's ACC Championship:
"Just because you won the ACC Championship last year doesn't mean we're a good team this year. We have to come back and work just as hard as we did, and we worked hard last year to get to where we were good enough. Now, people know our team and so we have to work harder. That's the way it goes playing a four-year cycle. We've had teams that got better every year and shows when some of those guys were seniors, and we want to do the same thing with these guys."

Maryland Forward Travis Garrison
On the start of the game:
"We came out with a lack of intensity. They played with a lot of intensity, and we didn't play with enthusiasm to start. They wanted it more than us from the start, and they hit a lot of threes to start the game."

On the play of Maryland:
"We have things to work on. A lot of teams starting the season have things to work on and we're one of those teams. It's the first exhibition game. We have practice tomorrow and can work on improving."

Maryland Center Ekene Ibekwe
On his offensive play:
"You can't put me in any one position. I'm the type of player that you throw out there and use to your advantage. When I have a small player on me, I can post them up. If I have a bigger guy on me, I'll take them to the rack. That's how I play basketball."

On scoring 19 points:
"I'm getting more playing time. I'm starting, and I'm more into the offense. It feels good to get the opportunity to go out and play."

Bryant College Head Coach Max Good
On the game:
"Maryland is obviously a great team. I thought the difference in the game was at the foul line, I know they shot way more free throws than we did and that was the key. They punched the ball inside in the second half. They are extremely well coached and they did a great job."

On the second half:
"They pushed out on us in the second half. We couldn't keep Mike Williams on the floor, he fouled out and that hurt us because he is the only guy we can go to inside. With him not on the floor they were able to push out on our shooters."

On their upcoming schedule:
"We have Connecticut next Thursday, so we are going from the frying pan to the fire. I am looking forward to practice on Sunday, if we could go seven days a week we would be practicing tomorrow, we can't so we have to take a day off tomorrow."