March 9, 2005
Head Coach Gary Williams
On tomorrow's first-round ACC Tournament matchup against Clemson:
"We're looking forward to this. I think it's a great opportunity for us. Obviously Clemson beat us twice during the year but we'll be ready to play tomorrow and I think hopefully we'll have a great effort. I certainly think we're capable and we have to show it. You can't talk about it, you have to get it done on the court. We do have a lot of pride as a basketball program. I think we've earned that with 11 straight NCAA appearances. Only Arizona, Cincinnati, Kansas, Kentucky and ourselves have done that."
On Washington, DC as the site of the ACC Tournament:
"The ACC Tournament is great and local people should get a chance to see it. Maryland fans have spent a lot of money to go down to North Carolina and get hotel rooms and all that stuff, so now Maryland people will have a chance to have it local ... I think if you can win that first game the arena turns more to your side when you're the home team. The other advantage is you're already here. You don't have to go through the travel process that we do when it's in Greensboro or Charlotte, for instance."
On expectations of the team defensively:
"I've always felt that defense and rebounding are about 75 percent aggressiveness and 25 percent technique, and it's usually not the technique that causes you to play bad defense. You have to get a mindset as a team that you're going to get every loose ball, you're going to get every rebound, fly around, deflect passes, all those things. That's got to be your mindset every possession. That's where we have to be tomorrow."
On getting off to a quick start:
"I think it's important. It's not whether you put the ball in the basket, but you can usually tell right away how you're playing ... I'd rather look at it as how we go after the ball and how we rebound, that's what I'm looking for tomorrow."
On playing one of the most difficult schedules in the country:
"We always try to play a tough schedule. If it works right it makes you a better basketball team. The experience of playing those games should help you by January and February to be a better team, and it does most years. I don't make the schedule trying to be in the top-ten in the country in terms of toughness, but if that's the way it worked out that's fine. We want to play the top teams. My first three or four years we couldn't play those teams on a consistent basis so we're glad to play that schedule now."
On the quick turnaround for teams during the ACC Tournament:
"You just look at each game. You can't worry about [winning the Tournament] because there's nothing to worry about unless you beat Clemson. The great thing about the tournament is that you know what you have to do if you do win. You don't have time to do make a lot of changes and judgments off of your last game, you just get ready to play the next game. That's a great way to play basketball where it's just your team versus the other team ... If you beat Clemson hopefully that gives you a lot of momentum going into that next game."
Sophomore guard Mike Jones
On the ACC Tournament:
"There's no secret [to winning], it just comes down to playing great defense. The guys on the floor and the guys on the bench have to play great defense; that's where it starts. We're not uncomfortable, we're very comfortable. We've been in this situation before, we know what we have to deal with. It's up to us to go out there and play hard."
Junior forward Nik Caner-Medley
On keys to the Clemson game:
"It all comes down to defense and intensity and not letting them get off to a good start. [Clemson's] a team that if they get off to a good start they play with a lot of confidence because they're a young team and that's what a lot of young teams do. They're coming into this game with a lot of confidence and they should, they've beat us twice. We have to come with a defensive intensity that makes they feel uncomfortable early."
Senior guard Mike Grinnon
On his last ACC Tournament:
"Coach always talks about how good teams come together at the right times. We've definitely had a couple of rough games in a row but we've had a week to get ready for this game coming up and we're optimistic about it."
On the matchup with Clemson:
"It's a pride thing for us, they beat us twice this year and we definitely don't want that to happen a third time."
On playing in front of a hometown crowd at MCI Center:
"It's definitely better that going down to Carolina like I've done for the past three years. We're going to try and use the fans to our advantage and make it like a home game."
Junior forward Travis Garrison
On the keys to the game against Clemson:
"We've go to contain them, stop them from scoring. We've got to play good defense. That's the most important thing."
On tomorrow's first round matchup with Clemson:
"We're concentrating on one game at a time. I'm concerned with Clemson tomorrow. Whatever happens after that is up to the committee."
Junior guard Sterling Ledbetter
On playing in his first ACC Tournament:
"No I'm not nervous, mostly excited that we get to play Clemson again."
On the tournament:
"We're definitely a tournament team. The talent on this team is incredible."
