Pregame Quotes: Virginia Tech At Maryland
2/7/2005 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 7, 2005
Head Coach Gary Williams
On Saturday's game vs. Miami:
"You have to be ready to play. I thought we did a pretty good job against Miami. We did some things that didn't allow us to win, but we had guys who stepped up and played well."
On the play of Chris McCray against the Hurricanes:
"I really liked the way Chris McCray played in the second half. He was looking for his shot. You go through slumps as a player where sometimes you don't shoot when you're open and you shoot when you're covered. It's like baseball - swinging at bad pitches. It's the same thing in basketball."
On returning home to play Virginia Tech:
"You're always concerned when you lose, but now we just need to put that behind us and win. We can't do anything about the last two games, but we can do something about tomorrow night."
On comparing last year's team to this year's:
"You have to do it this year. I've never been a big believer in a lot of signs in the locker room or things like that. This is this year's team and we have to create our own identity. Last year, there were no guarantees we just had to keep fighting and hope something good happened. We can still make it happen this year."
On the resiliency of his team:
"Mentally, as freshmen and sophomores, you're probably a little scared when the season starts. You have to hang together and develop a trust. That's always a good mentality to have as a team. These guys, even though they are sophomores and juniors are veteran players. They've been through it before so we'll see how we respond."
On his team's injuries:
"Ekene Ibekwe has a cracked rib and it's really a day-to-day thing because it has to get better. Everybody would like to have all their players. At the same time, that's a big part of sports. If you get a couple of injuries, you have to rise above it. In other words, if you want to be successful then it doesn't matter who's hurt. You have to be able to play. You have to find different guys to step up, but if you can't do that then you're not going to be successful. I'm not going to get cards from the other coaches in the league telling me they hope my players get better. It's life, you have to deal with it."
