Jan. 23, 2005

Recap |  Box Score |  Notes

Maryland Head Coach Gary Williams

On the game:
"I knew [North Carolina] State would be ready coming in because they had been in games. They lost a couple of tough ones where they had leads and let them get away. We played well in the second half, but you have to put together a full 40 minutes and be ready when the ref throws the ball up."

On the team's first half play:
"It's hard to move the ball like State does. You have to work, you have to run on offense, just like when you play defense. Usually, they're both connected. Tonight, we didn't move the ball well on offense, and we didn't have a spark on the defensive end of the court."

On impact of the loss:
"You can't let it stick with the team. You have to move on and try to get ready for the next game. We have to move on and try and get ready for Duke."

On the game:
"Tonight, I thought it was a winnable game. We're playing at home, and State has had some tough times. We just weren't ready to attack a good team. They are a good team. They've been ranked all year, and they were picked ahead of us in the preseason poll. But I thought after two wins we'd be ready to go and really fired up. The crowd was good, given the weather and that football was on. Things were set up pretty good for us tonight."

Maryland Forward Ekene Ibekwe

On the first half deficit:
"They came out much harder than we did. We didn't play perimeter defense like we should have. I'm proud of our team for coming out in the second half and playing hard, but the margin was too large. We couldn't defeat it."

On the intensity level of the team:
"We know who we are, we just have to come out and play hard all the time. We didn't come out with the intensity that we needed to against an NC State team that was dying for a win. They played harder than us in the first half and that's how they won."

On losing the first game this year at the Comcast Center:
"It stings a lot. In the ACC, you've got to win all your home games and try to steal wins on the road. With a tough schedule like we have, it's going to hurt but we have to play hard in practice and get ready for Duke."

Maryland Guard Chris McCray

On trying to stop the NC State three point shooting:
"That was one of our game plans. We know that's how they beat us here last year. We needed to get them off the three point line and the free throw line. They just executed and did a great job of hitting their shots and free throws. It's hard to contain teams like that."

On the state of the team: "I think we have our identity. It's a matter of us going out there and doing it, especially on our home court where we have 18,000 people cheering for us. Losing here hurts us, and it also hurts our fans."

Maryland Forward Travis Garrison

On playing with consistent energy:
"I think we know how we are, but we have to go out there and play like it. We can't come and play hard one game, and then the next game not play at all. We have to come out and play hard the way we know how to play."

NC State Head Coach Herb Sendek
On withstanding Maryland's comeback attempts:
"I thought in the first half we played as well as we have all season. We really put together a great 20 minutes of basketball at both ends of the floor. Maybe as difficult as anything tonight was when Maryland made its run, our guys' ability to hold tight and withstand that rally and increase the lead like we did once again when they cut it to 10. I think that took tremendous heart, as much heart as it did to play as well as they did the first 20 minutes."

On playing with a lead:
"I don't know if it's hard to play with a big lead, but Maryland is an outstanding basketball program, they're playing at home, it's not surprising that they made a run, and obviously our guys had to overcome the memory of last year's ACC Tournament game and that wasn't easy to do. That was there for us in addition to everything else, but it really started after the Virginia Tech game - that was a very hard loss for us earlier this week. It took everything we had to show back up and roll up our sleeves and get back to work."

On the play of Terrapin forward Nik Caner-Medley:
"The way Caner-Medley finished the game, I don't feel like we really held him. We tried different guys on him in the second half. He is clearly one of the best players in our conference. He is playing with great confidence. We were really aware of him coming into tonight. Even though we might have held him in check in the first half, we really had a struggle with him in the second half."

Wolfpack Guard Engin Atsur
On the game:
"We did a great job today. We knew they were going to come back in the second half, and we had that experience last year in the ACC tournament. Our team did a god job and stayed with it against a great team."

On protecting their lead:
"Some guys feel comfortable with the lead but there is no reason to feel comfortable. This is ACC basketball and anything can happen. I think we learned that last year against Maryland in the ACC tournament. Against Duke and Virginia Tech we were up and we lost those games. I think we learned hard lessons from those games that helped us today."

Wolfpack Guard Julius Hodge
On the game:
"We scored great in the first half and that is a credit to our teamwork. Everyone stayed together, we knew we were coming off a tough loss at Virginia Tech, a game we knew we had and we didn't want to lose this one. We came into this game with the mindset that we were going to do it together as a team and not as individuals. When you play like that you win."

On protecting their lead:
"No one wanted to lose and we know that Maryland is a good team and they were going to make their run. No matter what we were not going to lose this game. When you have guys come in and play really well Gavin (Grant), Engin (Atsur) with the big shots, we are going to win big games against very good teams. I also think our defensive intensity was great tonight."

On his play:
"I am already motivated. The crowd is obviously going to want their team to win. I just played together, with my teammates, and we got a big win."