Nov. 5, 2005

Recap |  Final Stats |  Notes

Maryland Head Coach Gary Williams
On the game:
"You really never know about your team until you get into a game situation like today. You get exposed in some things, which is really good at this time of year. It was a good game for us. We learned some things about our team."

On what the team needs to improve:
"We have to play good position defense. Part of what I consider defense is going after the basketball, and we didn't do a good job of that. We have to be a little tougher. St. Francis was willing to go after it, and that helps us to play someone like that."

On the return of D.J. Strawberry:
It was great to see D.J. out there. I haven't seen anything to make me think that he's worried about his leg. He brings a certain enthusiasm to the game. It's hard not to get excited when he's on the court."

On the play of the bench:
"Will Bowers came in and played well off the bench. Obviously, what Mike Jones did was great. If you have a guy like that come off the bench -- or start -- is tremendous. The reason we were up at halftime is Mike Jones. Mike has been getting stronger. He's in a lot better shape this year, and the same thing with Will Bowers. Both of those guys did a great job working hard this summer to get ready for this season."

On the Comcast Center crowd:
"The crowd was great. I thought it was tremendous to have that many show up on a Saturday afternoon. The students were great and fired up."

On Strawberry's defense:
"We didn't have a guy last year who could get six steals. Chris McCray became a very good defensive player ... D.J. is more like a Juan Dixon-type. He'll get out of position sometimes, but he is there to make the big play."

On this year's team compared to last year:
"Each year, you have to prove yourself. I think we have potential to be a very good team, but so does everyone else. We just have to keep working."

Maryland Guard Mike Jones
On beginning the new season:
"I felt real comfortable out there. We all got each other involved in the game. Coach [Williams] told us to play with some intensity. He said to go out there and run up and down the floor, play defense and try to get some steals with our press. That's what we went out there and did."

On his conditioning:
"Stamina is big in the ACC. You've got to be able to go up and down the floor. If Coach wants to play you for 40 minutes and asks you to play the whole game, you've got to be able to do that. We did a lot of running and conditioning in the offseason. It definitely paid off today."

On the focus of the team:
"As a team, we're motivated. We all got each other ready to go and pumped up in practice."

Maryland Guard Chris McCray
On the impact of new assistant coaches Michael Adams and Rob Moxley:
"They've really helped me with my outside shot. I've been really shooting the ball well in practice. Today, I didn't shoot that well, but the shot feels so much better. They can always tell you what you're going to do before you do them."

On how the new coaches are improving shooting:
"They had us take a lot of shots. They brought about five shooting drills that I've never done in my life. They had us shoot 40 shots in a minute, which is something I had never done before."

On the Maryland effort this afternoon:
"It was fun. I know we still have a long way to go defensively. I'm really happy with our effort and with the way we passed the ball. These games are important because in practice, we can't beat each other up. This gives us a chance to go out there and bang with some guys we don't know."

Maryland Junior Guard D.J. Strawberry
On how starting at point guard changes his role:
"It really hasn't changed that much. I'm trying to play my game. The only thing that has changed is that I have to get everybody involved early in the offense and set the tone for the game. I have to be calm early and see the whole floor."

On his first game back after his injury last year:
"This was a big game for me to get out there and get everything off my mind. It's been a while since I was on the court. It just felt so good to be out there and playing. I almost started crying, but I held it back. I was ready to go."

St. Francis Xavier Head Coach Steve Konchalski
On today's game:
"I was happy with our effort. We played hard and at times we played well. I don't think the final score was really indicative of the game. We got worn down. Maryland is bigger than we are and they have more depth than we do. It wore us down and caused us to make mistakes. We had 33 turnovers, which is two games worth of turnovers for us. That was the biggest difference in the game."

On leading scorer Gary Gallimore:
"Gary plays tough. He is a hard nosed kid, who not only led us in scoring but led us with eight rebounds. He's only 6'3" and is playing against much bigger players, but he still gave us a huge effort."

On performance of point guard Zach Russell:
"I thought the leadership he gave us tonight was very good. He had 12 points and eight assists. He also turned the ball over seven times, but otherwise he gave us a very strong effort against a very good college basketball team."

On impact of Maryland's full court pressure:
"At times, we were able to handle it easily, but at other times we really didn't. We got some good scoring opportunities by being aggressive against it, but sometimes we were too impatient and probably should have made them try to play some more defense."

On Maryland leading scorer Mike Jones:
"He put on a show in the first half, scoring 17 of his 19 points. He was dead on from what is a little further than what he is used to. The three-point line we used today is further than what the NCAA usually uses, and he showed that he can shoot from deep. He surprised us a little bit, because he wasn't a highlight on our scouting report. But he definitely played like a key player today."