Dec. 6, 2006

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Maryland Head Coach Gary Williams
Opening Statement:
"It was an interesting game. Getting in foul trouble early made us do some things in the first half with the lineup, not playing particularly well early. They do a lot of different things defensively. They have a veteran team meaning that they start four juniors and most of them have been starting for three years. They know how to play together very well and defensively they do things that you don't see very often in their switches and their matchups. We struggled early. You have to have a game like this to understand that you have to depend on your execution. You can't change everything for each defensive player and each situation that you are in so you have to execute your plays. We did in the second half where we did a much better job. It was considerably better in the second half than it was in the first half. You have a lot of things that make for a win."

On Greivis Vasquez:
"Greivis is just one of those guys that loves the game, loves to play, and loves to compete. That is a pretty good combination between those guys and they will make things happen. Greivis is a freshman but he makes great plays. He has a lot of confidence. He tries to do some things that maybe aren't the right thing for the situation but you don't want to take away that wanting of the ball in pressure situations and wanting to score. He is getting used to the pace of this game. When he loses the ball it is because it was quicker. What he was doing last year was fine but now it is quicker. He is learning just like Eric Hayes is. Hopefully, both of those guys will keep developing as players."

On Fordham's play:
"We will get better this year as we execute our sets better. Fordham knows how to play. They take advantage if you don't do something right. You pay for it. That's good in a game like that you wind up winning you can make some mistakes and sometimes players are more receptive after a game like that you have to do things a little better in the future."

On Mike Jones:
"He didn't have a good game against Notre Dame but he has been playing great all year. We talked after that game and the big thing with Mike is he is such a good shooter. Against Notre Dame he passed up some open shots and when you have a shooter it's not about missing, it's about passing up shots. And he passed up some shots and took some shots when he was covered. That's a shooters slump. We are trying to get everybody to take some easy shots. Mike made some shots and he carried us early in the game. His shots really made a difference in the game."

On the Notre Dame game:
"We were really down during the Notre Dame game and sometimes you have to play your way out of it. I knew this would be tough because it was only two days of practice and then we would be right back playing again. Fordham was the wrong team to be playing because they would not be phased coming into the Comcast Center. With their experience, I knew that they would run their plays very well. I was really worried myself before this game. I was concerned we wouldn't play our way out of it."

On Maryland's play:
"We were better tonight. We got back to doing some things that we did and I think it doesn't show until the second half. They might make some shots in the first half but they gradually get tired and that just comes from you playing good defense on each position. When they have good players, they make some good shots. Sometimes in the second half your jumpshots don't go in so easily because you are tired."

On Ekene Ibekwe:
"Blocked shots are usually good plays because they are around the basket and that means they have done a good job of getting the ball that far and then the shot is blocked. What you would like to see is for that to become discouraging where they begin to settle for jumpshots instead of going inside on you. That is what you try to do when you have a shot blocker like Ekene is just put the message that it is going to be tough to score inside."

Maryland Guard Mike Jones
On getting off to a good start:
"We tried to work on that in practice. I wanted to just catch the ball and shoot it and get into a rhythm early. We definitely concentrated on that, and that was what we were able to do."

On bouncing back after the Notre Dame loss:
"There are always going to be games where you struggle as an athlete, but you have to bounce back. We just wanted to work hard in practice and get everyone back playing at the level they can play at, and that includes me. We wanted to get our transition game going, and Coach Williams told us before the game that if we got rebounds, we could get our transition game going. We just tried to work on that tonight."

On shooting:
"I talked to Coach Williams during practice over the past few days, and he definitely emphasized that I need to take shots when I'm open. I can't pass up too many wide open shots, because I might not get that opportunity back."

On playing the next game in his home state of Massachusetts:
"I'm definitely looking forward to going home. I'm not sure who is going to get comp tickets. Probably my family and some friends, but I'm excited about it."

Maryland Guard D.J. Strawberry
On bouncing back from the loss:
"We just had to forget about it. It wasn't like the season was over. The young guys on our team haven't had a chance to react to losing yet, so we played a little down in the first half, but by halftime we were back to playing the way we know how to play. That is how we got here."

On the second half:
"We just played with more intensity. We came out of the locker room with a lot of emotion, and we just had to get back to running our plays well and playing good defense."

On getting ready for Boston College:
"We have to get back to playing solid basketball for a full 40 minutes. We can't be up and down against a team like Boston College, but I think we will be ready."

Maryland Forward Ekene Ibekwe
On playing with foul trouble:
"It never worries me. I'm not going to play any differently or with any less aggressiveness because I have some fouls. If the referees are going to call a foul, they're going to call a foul. Coach [Williams] just wants me out there with intensity, and that is how I'm going to play."

On blocking shots:
"When a guy is trying to dunk on me, I just see the ball and try to knock it out of his hands. That's something I feel I can bring to this team defensively. Blocking shots is a part of defense, and that is something that I can bring to the table. I was able to do it today and we got the win."

On preparing for Boston College:
"It's going to be good to start with ACC play. It will be fun. We like playing on the road, where we can prove some people wrong. We are going to come out to practice and start game planning, and we'll be ready this weekend."

Fordham Head Coach Dereck Whittenburg
Opening Statement:
"We couldn't make a shot, and [Mike] Jones hit a couple of threes, and they pulled away. That last five minutes, I thought we did a good job, the first five minutes, we didn't do such a good job. We got back in the game, down about 12 with six or seven minutes to go, and we needed to get a good shot and get it into [Bryant] Dunston. They really did a good job running their offense. They were a totally different team watching them against Notre Dame and then watching them tonight. They really executed some things well, and give credit to Gary [Williams], they really did a nice job tonight."

On whether the team was worn down by the end of the game:
"Yeah. I just wasn't comfortable with our bench versus their bench. I thought our first six could play with them, but I just thought that making a run with our guys, I needed to rest them. That's why I called all those timeouts. We tried to play zone a couple times to try to slow them down, and we missed some assignments. But yeah, they wore us down playing a lot of guys."

On playing a team that just lost its first game of the season:
"I didn't think at first they came out and jumped on us. I thought that we came out and got the lead there early, and we were aggressive. I thought we were in the game, but being on the road and down 39-33 at halftime, I thought, `Wow.' We didn't play great but we hung in the game. They got on a roll, hitting some three point shots and making some plays, and we missed some shots. We had some wide open shots and we just didn't make them. We had some opportunities and we just didn't finish. And when you don't finish those, they get them and run down the court with those opportunities. Our miscues on offense created offense for them and they took advantage of that."

On the choppy style of the game:
"I was hoping it would get a little ratty [at the end] and they would try to do some things out of character. We just needed to finish the play. We were so tired at the end, we really didn't have enough energy. I thought for one second when it got to 12, maybe I should try to substitute. But I just didn't trust it."