Nov. 8, 2006

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Maryland Head Coach Gary Williams
On team's defense:
"I thought we played better against the Canadian team than we did against California (Pa.) defensively. This is the thing that we have to keep progressing on, keep getting better at. There are still some things we haven't put into the defense that are a part of what we try to do. But hopefully, we can be good."

On Maryland's rotation:
"I was glad to play a lot of guys, because of the game tomorrow night. A lot of those guys work hard in practice. Gini Chukura is a great player for us in practice and he was fine in there tonight. Guys like that really make your team. Dave Neal is a very good passer for a big guy, so you want to get him in situations where we're getting pressed. We were able to do some things tonight to give guys opportunities to play roles, which will pay off at the end of the year."

On the play of forward Will Bowers:
"I'd rather have a guy be more aggressive, because it's a lot easier to calm a guy down than jack him up. Will made a couple mistakes, but he came back and played well after that. Will is really making the effort this year. I have nothing negative to say about Will Bowers."

On tomorrow night's game against former assistant Mike Lonergan:
"I know those guys, but this is the time where you have to step up and play. You can't worry about whose on the other bench. You just have to come to play. They're good guys and Mike Lonergan has done a great job at Vermont. He won a national championship at Catholic, which is why I hired him, he's a great coach. He's certainly proven that. All those guys are my friends and we'll be friends after the game."

On team's perimeter defense:
"We've just gradually been getting better at it. The two exhibition games happened to be against two teams who could really shoot from the arc. We really were able to point out some things on the video. Sometimes you have to get stung a little in order to get better. So it was good that we played against those teams, because it helped us get our point across."

On Greivis Vasquez and Eric Hayes:
"They're great competitors and they're great to have on the team because they bring a certain personality that is really good."

Maryland Guard D.J. Strawberry
On the game:
"It felt good. We were excited to get back on the court and we came out strong. We had a few lapses here and there, but the effort was there and we played pretty hard the whole game."

On a defensive focus:
"We've been working really hard. We saw that we had some things that we had to work on right away, and I think we fixed them. We still have to keep getting better, but this was a good start.

Maryland Guard Eric Hayes
On playing his first regular season game as a Terrapin:
"I tried to just have a calm demeanor on the court. I wanted to find the open guys. If I got open, I tried to score, but that's really all I tried to bring."

On Hampton:
"They had a lot of real quick guys out there. We had a little bit of a problem dealing with that, but we'll look at the tape and work on dealing with teams like that with quicker guards."

Maryland Forward Ekene Ibekwe
On starting the season:
"We came in here and started really well. We knew how they played, and we just wanted to come in here and execute on offense and defense. I think we did a pretty good job. We slipped up a little at the end of the first half, but overall I think we played pretty well. Now we have to get ready for the next game."

On the tempo:
"We knew that there were going to be a lot of fast breaks and a lot of long passes that could lead to easy baskets. That's the way we prepared for [Hampton]. I feel really good about our team. We're still progressing and getting better on defense, because I know that's something that we want to keep working on this year."

Hampton Head Coach Kevin Nickelberry
Opening Statement:
"I take my hat off to Gary Williams. Maryland played great. They handled our press and they got layups at the end. Some of our young guys fouled a little too much. We want to get 70 shots per game and we got 75. We want to get 25 turnovers and we got 25. Maryland also did a good job of putting themselves in position to get fouled."

On the play of guard Demario Mattox:
"I always look to try to find ways to get our guys better. The first thing I told Demario in the locker room is that he has to make better decisions with the basketball. If he made better decisions with the basketball, he would probably have six or seven assists. But this is new for him and everything for him is a building block. He has improved more than anybody I've ever coached. When I first got here, he was by far the worst shooter on our team, but in both of our scrimmages he hit four or five threes."