Jan. 19, 2005

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Maryland Head Coach Gary Williams Quotes

On the game
"I was very proud of Chris McCray tonight. We didn't know if he was going to play until about an hour before the game, but he worked out for about an hour and told us he could go. He did a great job and played very well. He and the team did a great job on [Devin] Smith in the second half and helped us turn it around. We did a great job in the second half of playing hard. I know it wasn't pretty, but it it's not supposed to be. You have to get the win in that situation, and we did. I'm really proud of our players."

On second half defense
"Our defense was better in the second half. I thought we were seeing where to help better. In other words, they isolated us pretty well in the first half, and we played better team defense in the second. Chris [McCray] made Smith make a couple moves before he scored or got a shot off. That gives your team some time to give some help on the defensive end. I also thought our rebounding was better. It was a good team effort tonight. A lot of guys played well for us tonight, especially in the second half."

On play of Nik Caner-Medley
"When he's aggressive, he seems to get more looks at the basket. Not just driving the ball, but going after the ball, playing good defense and rebounding. Then, when he gets down to the offensive end, he seems to get more into the flow, rather than standing and waiting for the ball to get around to him. I think that's what has happened in the last few games. He has to be a combination player at that size, a guy that can make a shot but also go inside and score, and he's doing that right now."

On playing without D.J. Strawberry
"It's going to be a big challenge, in terms of our defense and intensity level. When we could put D.J. out there with two other guards, it's tough to play against because he's so big. His size meant a lot to us, but you have to adjust. I think Mike Jones is really coming, he did a good job tonight. I thought he handled the ball well in the second half when we needed it. He's coming along, and Sterling Ledbetter, he didn't have to get in much tonight, but he'll definitely be playing before this thing's over."

On aggressiveness of Ekene Ibekwe
"For him to be really effective, he's got to be able to face up and go inside and score. He's got be an inside force for us, and I thought he was in the second half."

On team's momentum heading into NC State game
"NC State beat us twice last year, and they're a very good team. We have to be ready to play, and fortunately we don't play until Sunday. We have to do a good job using this time to get ready and be a better basketball team by Sunday."

On moving into fifth place tie among ACC's winningest coaches
"It's nice, and it's longevity more than anything else. If you're at a place long enough, you'll start to get some wins. I'll think about it when it's all over, but I just need to move on to NC State and not worry too much about it. I always tell players all the time to not worry about individual things, and now I have to do that as a coach."

Maryland Guard Chris McCray
On his bruised tailbone
"It's kind of sore. Coach told me before the game to play if I could but that he wasn't going to press me out there. The guys in the locker room were looking for me to go out there and display my energy. Not necessarily to score points, but just to be out there and to get everybody excited, so I sucked it up for my teammates."

On holding Devin Smith to just two second-half points
"We wanted to double-team Elton Brown and when we did, we left Devin Smith open a couple of times. Coming out in the second half we made a defensive change. Coach put me on Smith and told me when Brown got the ball to just fake at him but not to leave Smith, so I keyed on him to stop his offensive threat."

On the Terps' second-half offensive improvement
"At halftime coach reminded us to play inside-out offense. That's when we're at our best. That allows guys like Nik Caner-Medley and Mike Jones and John Gilchrist to hit shots like they have every day and every game. We also need to develop our big men and get them more confidence because we're going to need them down the stretch."

Maryland Forward Nik Caner-Medley
On scoring 82 points in the last three games
""I haven't been shooting the ball exceptionally well. I'm just being real active and aggressive. When I'm active and aggressive, John plays so well at the point, other guys play their roles, and we get the ball inside. We have a lot of tools to use and that opens things up for me."

On his offensive rebounding focus
""Offensive rebounds result in easy buckets. It helps the team, and I'm just trying to do anything I can to help get wins. That's the most important thing is to get wins. A lot of guys are doing some real important things for us. The fact that Chris played tonight is unbelievable. Everybody on this team used that to help motivate us."

On the Terps' second-consecutive win
""We've been positive ever since we lost those games on the road. That's in the past. I think we've proven ourselves over the last two games. On the road against good teams you're vulnerable. Right now we're proving that we can get wins at home and we need to continue to do that."

Maryland guard John Gilchrist
On the difference in the second half
"We limited them to one shot. In the first half they got second and third shots. In the second half, we got all the short rebounds and the guards getting long rebounds. Everybody just pulled together and pulled out the win."

On the loss of teammate D.J. Strawberry
"It was very tough on everyone when we found out about DJ. Not just his talent, but everything he brings to the team with his energy. It really was a blow but we pulled it out."

Virginia Head Coach Pete Gillen
On the game
"The big story in my eyes was that early in the second half we had a bunch of turnovers that led to some baskets for them. We had trouble scoring. Devin Smith hasn't been able to practice much because he's coming off a badly sprained ankle, so he gets tired and that hurts us. We have to get some continuity with our lineup. I thought our young guys did a good job, [Jason] Cain gave us a little help on the boards. We let it slip through our hands with the turnovers and the scoring drought early in the second half."

On Maryland's shot-blocking ability
"Sometimes he's getting hit but sometimes he's not. They're blocking his shots in the post area. These are athletic teams."

On his squad's turnovers
"We didn't take care of the ball and were a little careless. We have to value the ball more. We have some young guys in there at times, but that's no excuse. We can't have as many turnovers as we did."

Virginia guard Sean Singletary
On the game
"We just fell apart in the second half. In previous games we have done the same thing. We started off strong in the first half and in the second half we came out flat. As a team we just didn't stick with it. We had a lot of turnovers in the second half and we did not get to the loose balls."

On Virginia's turnovers
"We turned the ball over a lot and that helped them. We played well in the first half and we turned the ball over a lot in the second half. You can't turn the ball over and expect to win on the road."

On the team
"We are taking this as a learning process. We have a lot of games left. We just have to come together as a team and get the chemistry back that we had."

Virginia guard J.R. Reynolds
On the game
"We kind of killed ourselves in the second half because we made too many turnovers. I thought we were making back-to-back turnovers. We can't have that many turnovers on the road and that hurt us."

On Maryland's 18-3 second-half run
"Our turnovers helped them go on that run. We couldn't convert on offense because they were either blocking our shots or we were not hitting the shots that we open for us or the shots that we were taking."