Postgame Quotes
3/1/2006 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 1, 2006
Maryland Head Coach Gary Williams
Opening Statement:
"We had a good defensive effort against a good offensive team. Their perimeter players really hurt us [at Miami], but we made them work hard to get what they got tonight. It's been a tough week, but you have to play through the negative stuff as a player. This was a great win for us."
On James Gist's key basket:
"We have a cutter on that play, and Miami was keying on him so James was open. There was a great pass and a great shot by James. I thought that the play was executed very well in that stretch."
On Sterling Ledbetter:
"He played very hard. The foul shots were as big as his defense. He did a lot of things very well. The whole conference has had trouble shutting [Miami] down, but we were able to get our guards to play really good defense. That might have been our best defensive effort in conference play."
On having a chance at .500 in the ACC:
"We gave ourselves a chance with this game. I'm proud of us tonight, and I think we'll get a good effort at Virginia. I feel like with our strength of schedule, we can get to .500 and give ourselves a chance, so we'll see what happens."
On Nik Caner-Medley: :
"It has to be a thrill to win your last home game. Nik really wanted this game tonight, and hopefully we can continue to go out and win. It's going to take that kind of effort every time out."
Miami Head Coach Frank Haith
On missed opportunities:
"We missed five layups in the game, we missed a couple free throws. When you're in a tight ballgame like that, you've got to make those plays....I'm really disappointed because I thought we had our chances and just couldn't get enough breaks to win the game. We didn't make enough plays. We missed layups, we missed free throws. But the kids played hard, and give them credit. It was a great environment, a good college basketball game, well-played. Maryland jumps out big, we come back and take the lead in the second half in a hostile environment, and I'm really proud of how our kids competed under those circumstances. We just didn't finish."
On offensive rebounds:
"They got 15 offensive rebounds, and I don't know that we got anything out of our offensive rebounds. There were so many times that we got offensive rebounds and we were unable to get anything positive out of it."
On Miami's play:
"I thought our guys were prepared. We came in and competed, we just didn't win."
On Miami's chances of making the NCAA Tournament:
"As long as there are games left, there are opportunities. It's unbelievable when I hear people say, `they're out [of the NCAA Tournament].' We've got a conference tournament still to play. There are still opportunities."
Maryland Forward Nik Caner-Medley
On preparing for the game tonight:
"The last couple of days in practice were wars. There was a lot of running. We didn't have a day off since the last game. We came and practiced hard for two days. Going into this game, I was real confident. I'm really proud of my teammates. This says something about our team. They knew how important this was for the seniors to leave on a win. We came in tonight and really did a lot of great things as a team."
On defending Robert Hite:
"He got a tough couple of shots with my hand in his face. He's a good player, but we were able to limit them enough to win the game."
On beating Virginia and handing Coach Williams the ball recognizing him as Maryland's winningest coach:
"It was a bigger moment than when he presented me my jersey tonight. I hardly remember the jersey ceremony because I was so focused on the game. The moment after that win, and to give him that ball, stands out more than anything during my time at Maryland."
Maryland Guard Sterling Ledbetter
On hitting free throws late to seal the game:
"We were up by one the second time I went to the free throw line so I tried to stay calm. I stepped up to the line and tried to keep my cool and went up there and knocked them down. I knew I had to do that for the team."
On limiting the Miami guards:
"They have three good guards. Our goal was to stay with them and not let them get hot behind the three-point line. I think we did a good job with that tonight and we came out with a win."
On starting his last home game at Maryland: :
"It meant a whole lot to me."
Maryland Center Travis Garrison
On what the win means: :
"We needed this win going into the end of our regular season at Virginia. It was a good win for us. We gutted it out. Miami is a good team. We played hard, got rebounds, and made free throws down the stretch to come out with the win. It made it even better that it was my last home game."
Miami Guard Robert Hite
On tonight's game:
"It was a very disappointing loss, but we didn't make plays down the stretch. We didn't make free throws and we didn't make lay-ups, and they did. That's why they won the game."
On end of the game:
"We never thought we were out of the game, but it came down to them making plays. When we fouled them, they went to the free throw line and they made their shots. On the last play of the game, I was trying to get open for a three, but they fouled before we could do anything. It was a great call from their coach."
