Nov. 24, 2006

Recap |  Final Stats |  Notes |  Photo Gallery 1  |  Photo Gallery 2 

Maryland Head Coach Gary Williams

Opening Statement: "In the second half I thought we played with good defensive intensity, but we didn't play as smart as we can play. We've been a very smart team our first six games, but today we were not. Our bench really helped us keep our energy up, which is probably why we were able to pull away from our halftime lead."

On playing difficult games in November: "Somebody handed me a score that Missouri State beat Wisconsin today. It's going on all over the country. There are a lot of good teams around that you don't hear much of. If we're not ready to play, and if we're not as tough as we normally are, they can definitely play with us. A player like Reid is probably considered too small to play the forward spot in a major conference. Given the opportunity to play and get stronger, all of a sudden he can play with a lot of teams that are ranked top 20 in the country."

On Maryland's bench: "Parrish is good. He really stepped up and hit that big shot on the sideline that seemed to get the crowd in the game. He was aggressive, and that's what we need. Our bench has to do that. Today was Parrish, the other day was Bambale. That's a good sign."

On the four-point lead at halftime: "When it's a four-point game at halftime, it's just like any other time during the year where you're up four. You have to be ready to play. You know it's going to be a war in the second half. You assume that they have their confidence and know they can play with us, and that it would be a four-point game all the way. That's how you have to look at it, no matter if it is High Point or Illinois. You play as hard as you can and hope you can stretch it out."

On Maryland's free throw shooting: "We've been a good free throw shooting team. We're a pretty good offensive team when we're passing well. We had 20 assists today. That's a good sign for us, that we're passing the ball well. Free throws are important. We stress them in practice, but so does everybody else. I've found over the years that the best way to shoot good free throws is to recruit good shooters. There are no secrets to free throw shooting."

On Maryland's offense: "I was upset because I thought we had chances in the first half to stretch the lead out, but we'd take the quick jump shot. We can't do that against good teams. High Point in the first half was a very good team, and they make you pay. They were a very patient team. If we took a quick shot and it wasn't a good shot, they would get the rebound. It just leads to problems. We've got a pretty good offense that works if we're willing to be patient. It's not easy because there is some strain and physical contact involved to be able to do it, but that's basketball."

Maryland Forward James Gist

On the game: "We knew we had to come out and play with a lot of energy. We knew that we had one more game before the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, and we had to play tough. We started out a little slow in the first half, but we came out and picked it up in the second half."

On improving his game: "I just want to go hard and bring some intensity to the team. I want to run the floor as much as I can and rebound, play defense, and try to make the shots that I can make."

On starting 7-0: "It's a great feeling, but we can't be satisfied. We're 7-0 and teams are going to start realizing that we're undefeated and start coming for us. We have to be ready. We know Illinois is a tough place to play, so we have to come in tough and go in there and get that win."

Maryland Guard D.J. Strawberry

On the game: "We have to just make sure that we're playing our game. We got away from that a little bit in the first half, and we knew that we had to be ready to come out in the second half and step up our play."

On avoiding upsets: "As a team, you're not going to have it every time you step on the court. We have to be mentally tough as a team and be ready to overcome games like that. This wasn't my best performance, but we picked it up in the second half and came away with the win, and that's what is most important."

On High Point: "Teams like High Point can come out and upset major teams at any time. Coach [Williams] didn't want us to be one of those teams, so we just had to come out and focus on putting together two halves of basketball and just go out and play our game. We picked that up today."

Maryland Guard Parrish Brown

On providing a spark off the bench: "We knew when we came into the game that the team needed a little spark to get things going, and that's what we wanted to provide. It was good for us to know that we can win in a situation like that."

On improving from here: "We talked at halftime about how we can't play the way we did in the first half. If we play like that, this season isn't going to go as well as we want it to. We're still using the disappointment of last year as motivation and that will keep us motivated to come out and practice hard tomorrow and be ready to play Illinois."

High Point Head Coach Bart Lundy

Opening Statement: "I thought overall, we played hard. We didn't handle their pressure early, and they're long and athletic ... We played 36 of 40 minutes and kept up, but let them take advantage at the end."

On missing an opportunity to tie the game in the first half: "I told the guys before the game that in a game like this, we've got to make the shots. We have very little margin of error, and if you get a good shot you have to make it."

On falling farther behind despite shooting well in the second half: "They turned us over some, and also they had a number of foul shots. We put them on the free throw line, and those are points we don't get."