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March 10, 2006

ACC Men's Basketball Tournament
March 9, 2006
#6 Maryland 82, #11 Georgia Tech 64

MARYLAND HEAD COACH Gary Williams

Opening remarks
WILLIAMS: I thought we really did a great job early, in terms of our effort. It was great to play that hard this time of year. These guys have done a great job of hanging in there. It was great to see them play like they did tonight. I was really proud of them and hopefully we can continue that tomorrow night.

On the defensive effort compared to the rest of the year
WILLIAMS: We played good defense last week against Miami and Virginia. I'd say this was on that level. Hopefully, that's a pretty good sign that we're working hard defensively, because we'll have to do that tomorrow night.

On the team coming together since March 1
WILLIAMS: It's one of those things where the players are responsible for whatever way we're playing right now. It's their attitude, it's their effort in practice that allows us to play like this at this point of the season.

You can say all the right things, but if the players don't have the fortitude to get it done, it doesn't mean anything as a coach. I'm not going to motivate guys that don't want to be motivated.

On the play of the Maryland reserves
WILLIAMS : I thought Will Bowers came in and gave us some really good minutes. Ekene Ibekwe is playing really well, he just had two quick ones (fouls) and didn't get into the game much after that, in terms of getting the flow of it. But, I'm really happy with the way he's playing.

It seems like we have four guys we rotate in two inside positions and Nik (Caner-Medley) plays there sometimes when we want to go a little small. Each night somebody seems to be stepping up and I thought Will Bowers gave us some good minutes while he was out there. I never look at the points with Will, I just look at what he does for our defense while he is out there.

MARYLAND SENIOR Nik Caner-Medley

On facing Boston College, and the differences to be expected this time around
CANER-MEDLEY: I think we both have game tapes of each other, so we're both going to know what to expect, regardless of any new personnel they have. So it's just really going to come down to who executes, who brings the intensity on the defensive end. Obviously, they're playing well, and they've got some good players they didn't have when we played them, but that doesn't really matter this time of year. What matters is who brings it for that 40 minutes. Right now we feel like we're playing well, and we'll just prepare as quick as we can and get ready to play.

On playing well so far in March, and the confidence level of the team
CANER-MEDLEY: I think we've got to take every game for what it's worth. There's obviously things we've been doing well, but you take things from every game, and I think that we can do better. We don't have a lot of time, obviously, for tomorrow's game, but at the same time there's a lot of things we're doing well that we can continue to do and use that as positive momentum. I think confidence comes from wins, and we've been able to string a couple together at the right time, and hopefully we can keep on playing the same way.

On how the game felt similar to Maryland's last tournament experience in Greensboro CANER-MEDLEY: I remember last time we were here, we didn't have quite as big a margin or lead in any of those games, and I think we could have done a better job when we got out like we did. I think you learn with every situation. We haven't had too many games where we've been up by 30. We can learn from that situation.

MARYLAND JUNIOR Mike Jones

On facing Boston College for a second time
JONES: They're a tough team. They didn't have a couple guys that they had before when we first played them, but that doesn't really matter right now at this point of the season. What matters is we've got to get in there and grind it out for 40 minutes, just play hard. They're a tough team, just like every other team in the ACC, so tomorrow night's going to be a big test for the both of us. Not just for us, Maryland, but for BC, so we just have to stay ready and be tough for 40 minutes.

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GEORGIA TECH HEAD COACH PAUL HEWITT Opening Remarks
Maryland was outstanding defensively tonight. They forced us into a lot of contested shots. I thought we could have helped ourselves better in the first half by moving the ball better but one of the reasons why we were hurt was that they were very sharp defensively. They did a good job of getting into Anthony Morrow's face and forcing some contested shots and Ra'Sean Dickey had a very good game up there against them last month and today they came in with the mindset of not allowing him to make any post moves. He didn't catch it and go quickly. They doubled and triple teamed him and we didn't react well after that.

On tonight's energy level
I thought we played hard but their defense is the reason we didn't get into a flow (offensively). They did a nice job of taking away our two primary threats in (Anthony) Morrow and (Ra'Sean) Dickey. If Ra'Sean was going to get some looks they were pretty well-contested.

On disappointment of 2005-2006 season
When you have a basketball team that is as talented as we have and you go 11-17, that pretty much speaks for itself. We didn't get it done this year.