Jan. 21, 2006

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Maryland Head Coach Gary Williams
On the game:
"We knew this game was going to be close. Virginia Tech had played that way their first four games. We had to be tough. We weren't really sharp, but I was proud of the way the team came out at halftime. We played pretty well once we got going."

On Nik Caner-Medley:
"Nik Caner-Medley was really big tonight. He wanted the ball in crucial situations and only had one turnover in 32 minutes in a quick game, so that was very important for us."

On Will Bowers:
"Our bench was very good. I thought Will Bowers played a great game tonight. It doesn't show up in the stats, but he played really big in there. He took up some room and bothered them when they were trying to penetrate, and he made a couple of big shots for us. That's what it takes for us to be good this year."

On Sterling Ledbetter:
"He came in and looked quick out there. He ran the offense well. D.J. [Strawberry] wasn't feeling well coming in and we knew we weren't going to get as many minutes out of him as we'd have liked, but Sterling really stepped up and did a good job."

On James Gist:
"I've been happy with James. It's hard to maintain a high level of intensity at this time of year, but our guys have done a good job. James was a little under the weather tonight, but he played hard and that's all you can ask of him. He and Will don't know how good they can be. I keep telling them and they're going to be good players for us."

On building the lead;
"A lot of times in a close game, it's only four or five minutes that are really different. We had to take that stretch and keep it up for as long as we could, and we were able to get [the lead] up to 13. We knew that Virginia Tech was not going to go away, but we were able to maintain that lead, which was good to see."

On tying Frank McGuire for third place in career wins in ACC games
"When I played against South Carolina, he was coaching for them. I got to know him pretty well through [former Georgia Tech coach] Bobby Cremins. He had some great stories. About six months before he died, in Bobby's last year coaching, he brought Frank to the league meeting and it was great to see him again. I think it's better to just look ahead during my coaching career and not focus on these things, but someday, hopefully I'll have that time."

On approaching Lefty Driesell's mark for wins at Maryland:
"Lefty is amazing. All young coaches who came after him looked at him. He was the one who had the idea to put bleachers on the floor at Cole Field House. He really created that home court advantage for us. And then he was the one behind Midnight Madness; look what that has become. He came into this area and figured out a way to make Maryland basketball a big deal around here.

Maryland Forward Nik Caner-Medley
On his team high 23 points:
"You have to give credit to my teammates because they got me the ball in position to score. When I get the ball inside against smaller guys, as long as I stay on balance and take good shots, it's something we can do consistently. My teammates got the ball inside to me when we had mismatches."

On the play of Will Bowers:
"I can name a few of his performances defensively off the top of my head. When he's played, he's shut down who he was guarding and that's a credit to him. When you have a big man who can come off the bench and play defense like that, he's going to get a lot more minutes."

On playing Georgia Tech Wednesday:
"They're a young team but they're a good team. This is a very important win for us being that we were on our home court. When we go on the road, we have to start getting some wins. If you're a veteran team and you want to be a great team, you have to be able to do that. It's something we're really focused on. We'll come out really ready to play on Wednesday."

Maryland Forward James Gist
On playing on the road:
"We have to go in with the same mentality to play harder than the other team. We have to be more focused on the road. At home, we have the crowd and we have everything we need to win with us. On the road, we only have each other and our coaches and we have to play hard."

Virginia Tech Head Coach Seth Greenberg
On the game:
"Maryland is a good team. We really had a hard time matching up against Nik Caner-Medley. He played with great intensity and he was tougher than us, especially in the second half. In the flex offense got it low or high, and he caught it where he wanted to catch it. I thought they were more patient in their half court, getting to the back side of the offense."

On Virginia Tech's play:
"Coleman [Collins] did a nice job of getting the ball and getting touches. He has to get a little bit tougher and finish. The biggest thing we have to understand is that this is a process, and we have to stick to our plan. We have to buy into the culture and not worry about wins and losses, because they will take care of themselves."

On where Virginia Tech will go from here:
"This league is great. Duke's a great team. They're coming off their first bump in the road. Our guys will bounce back. We're just going to play harder. We've had a chance to win every game, and we expect to have a chance against Duke. There are 12 separate vignettes left on the schedule. One has nothing to do with any other. We just have to work at it and stay together, and come to practice with an attitude that we want to improve. We have to have the same enthusiasm on Monday that we did on October 14. This is a good basketball team playing in a great league."

Virginia Tech Guard Jamon Gordon
On the second half:
"They made some tough shots. [Nik] Caner-Medley made some good shots. [Chris] McCray knocked down his free throws. They played a good game. We fought hard, but they came out with the win."

On getting ready for Duke on Thursday:
"We need to get better as a team. Duke lost today; they're going to be ready Thursday. We're looking forward to them, especially after what happened at Cameron. It should be a good game Thursday."

On losing the close games:
"At least you're in the game. At least you know you're not getting blown out; that would be a different story. We took some close ones from a lot of people last year, and it just flip-flopped this year. We've just got to keep fighting."

Virginia Tech Forward Coleman Collins
On the game:
"It was so close. I still have a lot of confidence that we are a good team. The heart and soul of our team [Jamon Gordon] is injured and he's out there hitting shots and hopping on one foot when the ball's inbounds. We're taking our licks. We've got a lot of guys playing a lot of minutes."

On the second half:
"We just couldn't put the ball in the hole in the second half. We had a lot of opportunities, myself included. We didn't perform as well as we did in the first half."

On Maryland:
"They're a good team, and they're a great team at home. They had the crowd behind them and they dug down and held on more than we did tonight."