Nov. 13, 2007

Recap |  Final Stats |  Notes |  AP Gallery  |  Photo Gallery 

Maryland Head Coach Gary Williams
On tonight's game:
"When you coach in college, you probably say three or four times a year, `You fear no one, but you respect everyone.' When you look at Hampton, they have a really good basketball team; they've recruited really well. What Kevin Nickelberry has done with his team in just a year's time has been great, and they should be really proud of that. But at the same time, we have to understand that each night that we come out to play, we have to be ready to play and we have to play hard for forty minutes. You can't think you have a game won. Hopefully we got that lesson tonight. A game like tonight provides a lot of things that you can work on in practice. And I'm looking forward to practice because we have great teaching tools now."

On team's turnovers:
"We had guys wide open, but we chose to make the hard pass instead of the fundamental pass. Until that stops, there is going to be turnovers. Good teams get a piece of those passes.

On playing in a close game early in the season:
"Hampton kept coming and put the pressure on us. When it's over, it's great to be in a game where you're under the gun this early in the season. I think that helps you. It certainly takes away any thoughts about how you just have to show up and the other team will just fold its tent. That's not going to happen; it doesn't happen anymore in college basketball. You have to be ready to play every night.

On junior forward Dave Neal:
"Dave Neal was very effective for us. When he went out is when we struggled. Dave has been working hard.

On senior forward James Gist:
"James is a good player. He's a Pan-Am team player. He's one of our two seniors and we need him. We need him all over the place. He's obviously a good shooter now and we need those jump shots. But we also need his inside game, rebounds, blocked shots and all those things he brings to the table."

On Hampton Senior Guard Rashad West:
"He's a great player. He's the case of a guy that goes to college, gets the opportunity to play and now most teams in the country would take him on his team. West is very capable. We tried to wear him down as must as possible. Maybe he got a little tired at the end of the first half, I don't know. But he kept his team in the game. He kept them close enough to make that run. He deserves a lot of credit."

Maryland Freshman Guard Adrian Bowie
On his performance in tonight's game:
"I think I played okay, I tried to get in there and just provide energy especially with the defense. I think I can improve in my defense and rebounding so that I can help my team out more."

Maryland Senior Forward James Gist
On tonight's game:
"We came out tonight and we played tough, and we stayed strong even though they came back and did take the lead for a second. But we stayed tough, and we had to come back and hold on to the win."

On necessary team improvements:
"There are a few things we need to work on so we have to get together in these next few days and get ready for this Thursday's game. Within these next few days, we need to get everything together."

Hampton Head Coach Kevin Nickelberry
On the game tonight:
"On the board in the locker room before the game we wrote, `No moral victories.' Last year, we probably would have taken a moral victory. This year, we're here to win basketball games. That's the only objective and we didn't get it done."

On his team's goals:
"We play every game, we practice every day. What you saw today is what we do every day in practice. For some reason, we don't get it. Our goal is to make sure that people understand that Hampton is for real. They hired me to build this program into a mid-major power. I've said it over and over; that is our goal. I'm just not in the business of moral victories."

Hampton Guard Rashad West
On the defensive play in the second half:
"Coach made a great speech at halftime and all of our players, and especially the young players, bought in to what he was saying. He told us we needed to clear the middle out in the second half and make them shoot. When they get the ball out on the edges, just to keep our hands up and have another player come over the top and strip or block the ball."

On his second half play:
"After halftime I decided I needed to take the ball down low and penetrate this defense. I knew that the only way we were going to win the game is if I could control the game and keep getting the ball down low to our big men. I gave everything I had in the second half and it just wasn't enough. We came here to win the tournament and we didn't accomplish that so I am disappointed."