Jan. 15, 2005

Recap |  Box Score |  Notes

Maryland Head Coach Gary Williams
On today's game:
"I always enjoy playing against Coach [John] Chaney. His teams play hard. Nothing goes on out on the court; his teams just play. They run one of the great systems. They believe in it and they do a great job with it. It was hard to get ready for this game because of their style of play, plus emotionally we weren't in the best shape. We had to really suck it up and gather ourselves where we could go that hard for 40 minutes. I was real proud of all the guys.... All in all it was a great team win. We had to get some different guys out there in key minutes and they came through. Hopefully that really bodes well for the future as we get back into the ACC [schedule]."

On sophomore center Will Bowers:
"Will Bowers showed a lot of maturity in 22 minutes out there with some big people. Everybody looks at the points on the stat sheet right away, but his presence out there really made a difference inside because Temple has a way of dominating on second shots."

On point guard John Gilchrist:
"I thought John Gilchrist was really solid. I was trying to get him to be more aggressive on offense but that's where he felt comfortable today and I think he did a great job running our team at the point guard position."

On sophomore Mike Jones:
"He's been showing it in practice and he showed it in the second half against Wake Forest. He's been coming. People have to realize that this is only the 14th game of his sophomore year. Just because you don't tear it up your freshman year doesn't mean you're not a good player."

On junior Nik Caner-Medley:
"I thought Nik Caner-Medley was outstanding. The 35 points [were] outstanding but he went to the offensive glass first. He proved to us that we could rebound with that team. Let's face it, we've been getting squashed on the glass the last couple games and we needed to step up and improve our rebounding."

Maryland Guard Mike Jones
On finding his shot:
"I stayed positive. There were a lot of negative comments coming from a lot of people. I got in the gym whenever I could to take extra shots. When the Wake Forest game came, I really got into my rhythm."

On rebounding from the last two games:
"People are always going to talk good or talk bad about you. It's the same thing as last year. We started out just like this. We got down and everybody wanted to talk bad about us, but we stayed positive as a team. We went into practice thinking everything good and we won tonight."

On his ability to break the Temple defense:
"I knew eventually they were going to have to change their zone defense. I just felt real comfortable out there."

Maryland Forward Nik Caner-Medley
On his interior play:
"Sometimes if I'm just standing around the perimeter, I get out of the game a little bit. When I'm real aggressive going for loose balls, getting offensive rebounds, getting tips, it gets me so much more involved in the game. That's something that's helped me."

On his growth as a player:
"I'm mature now as a junior. I have learned things that help me get ready. I was able to be a verbal leader for my teammates and that was something that was really good for us. This win was great for us coming off two losses."

On Chris McCray's absence from the lineup:
"Chris and I talked before the game and he said to get this win for him. He really wanted to play but he's hurt. After the game, he said thanks for getting the win. That's what a team is all about. If you lose somebody, you have to play really hard for them, because you know how bad they want to play."

On the crowd:
"The fans really helped us. One thing I knew coming into the game was that we were going to need the crowd's support and they were great for us. They kept us going. After we played two real great teams on the road, we were able to stay focused at home and get the win."

Maryland Center Will Bowers
On bouncing back with a win:
"A lot of people were down on us, but realistically we played the No. 3 and No. 4 teams in the country. We lost twice, but it was on their home courts. We'll have another shot at UNC when they come back here. It was nice coming home, because the crowd was great today. It was good to get our feet back under us."

On his follow-dunk late in the game:
"I got the ball in the high post and passed it to Nik. When you pass the ball and know where the shot is coming from, you know where the rebound is going to come out, so I put it down."

Temple Head Coach John Chaney
On the toughness of his team's schedule so far this season:
"What I look for when I play teams outside of our conference - tough teams, top twenty teams - is to just find guys that just keep hanging in there. It's a challenge to me, it's a challenge to them, and they should feel pretty good about themselves regardless of what the score is. As long as I'm at Temple I'll always schedule tough teams. I wouldn't have it any other way."

On Maryland's outside shooting:
"In this game they knew they had to hit 3-pointers because they were playing against a zone. They knew they had to stand up and shoot the ball against us. We're tough."

On Terrapin forward Nik Caner-Medley:
"He hurt us a lot. Most of the time he had wedged himself and had Antywane [Robinson] underneath the basket. When they got it in the back and our guys found themselves standing behind him, he'd just whirl right underneath and get shot after shot."

Temple Guard Mardy Collins
On Nik Caner-Medley and Mike Jones:
"Nik crashed the boards. Not only did he shoot the jump shots and make threes, he crashed the boards and got some easy lay-ups. Mike Jones came in and was hitting some jump shots also. He came in and was able to get some open looks so Caner-Medley got in there because we were keying in on Mike Jones."

On the closing minutes of the game:
"We missed a couple shots and as usual, they came up big with some stops at the end. If you can't get the stops at the end, that's the end of the game."

Temple Guard Dustin Salisbery
On Mike Jones:
"He played a good game. We knew he was a shooter, and we just weren't getting out to him. He was knocking down those open looks. He and Caner-Medley basically won the game for them by knocking down he open shots and getting the offensive rebounds."

On the atmosphere of ACC home games:
"Playing those tough teams just prepares us for our schedule in the A-10. But we're going to come out and play our conference schedule just like we play the ACC teams, with good defense and being aggressive."