Nov. 7, 2007

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Maryland Head Coach Gary Williams
On tonight's game:
"Exhibition games are always interesting. You never know, especially this year with our team having some new players, exactly how you're going to play. I liked our defensive intensity early. Our veteran players have to do a better job at staying with what we're trying to do offensively. We did a good job of that down the stretch last year and it really helped us. We have to come out playing that way on Sunday and hopefully we will. After the first four minutes we had a lot of different combinations out there and they probably executed the offense a little bit better than the guys that played most of the first half."

On the freshmen:
"I think it's an ongoing process. Adrian Bowie did some really good things. I think he settled down for the first time. He was a little nervous in the scrimmage against Temple and he was nervous in the first half. In the second half he looked really comfortable out there which is good to see. I'm looking for one of our big, new guys to step up as a rebounder. Points are important to players, but to teams, you need people to rebound and play defense on the interior if you want to play the big boys."

On not playing senior James Gist and sophomore Landon Milbourne in the second half in preparation for Sunday's game:
"We tried to play without them to see how that would go because we have to do it Sunday night. This was better than doing it tomorrow in practice, to get a look at a game situation. The guys that were in there certainly played as well as any other combination."

On the team's defensive play tonight:
"That's a good step for us tonight. I thought we had a good intensity level early on the defensive end. I thought we maintained it pretty well for the last couple minutes. That might be as good as we can be for right now. It has to get a lot better."

On sophomore guard Eric Hayes:
"Eric's natural progression is to shoot more this year. Last year he did a great job of being a part of the offense by making sure the ball got to the right players. He probably passed up some shots he could've taken. This year, we want him to take those shots and not pass them up because he's one of our best shooters."

Maryland Sophomore Eric Hayes:
On his performance:
"I felt pretty good to start and felt I played solid defense. That was my main point for tonight, to play solid defense and to feed the ball, and I felt I did that tonight."

On first game last year:
"There were a lot of people there and I was really nervous. This year I knew what to expect so I wasn't as nervous, and I was more relaxed out there."

On the freshmen's play:
"You could see them kind of twitching and could tell that they were nervous, which was fine because that was the same way I was last year. They looked a little nervous in the first half, but they looked a lot better in the second half."

Maryland Sophomore Greivis Vasquez
On his performance:
"I'm a little mad at myself. I take the blame for how we played, but the game that counts is Sunday and we'll be much better then."

On the freshmen:
"I'm proud of all of them. It's going to take them a lot of time to get used to everything. We're good right now, which means we can be great during the season."

Maryland Senior James Gist On the team's performance:
"We've still got a lot to work on as far as offense goes, but I was really impressed with our defense. With how young we are, we still have a lot of work to do."

Concordia Head Coach John Dore
Opening Statement
"I think Maryland is a very athletic team. Neither team played very well in the first half, and we lost a lot of offense due to injury early. Maryland is a very good team if they can hold on to the ball. They shoot well, handle the ball well and they have a lot of good big men inside. I think they're going to have a good year. For us, I don't think we played very well."

On comparing Maryland to the other American teams they faced:
"We played two very athletic teams in Maryland and Rhode Island. Arizona is very skilled and athletic. Vermont is not as athletic but they play very well together. Overall, for us it was a very good trip, although I think that we were tired after playing Arizona and then flying across the country. All in all, it was a great experience for our players and a good learning experience."

On what caused the slow start early for both teams:
"Maryland played good defense, and we just couldn't score. I think for Maryland, they had a lot of young players in their first games, putting the uniform on for the first time. Maryland's lack of a transition game early helped us but hurt them. I apologized to Coach Williams after the game because I didn't think we played as well as we could have. In the end, momentum is the sixth man."